Music Education in Data-based School Districts

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Music Education in Data-based School Districts

• How to keep music alive for students when you are
  competing with data and scarce resources?
• Presented by
• Michael Tebbano, Ed. D.
• Sheila Tebbano, Ed. D.
• October 6, 2005

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Does music matter?

• "Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the
  universe, wings to the mind, flight to the
  imagination, a charm to sadness, gaiety and life
  to everything. It is the essence of order and
  lends to all that is good and just and beautiful.
  -- Plato

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Begin With the End In Mind

• We hope you will learn
• Why do I need to deal with data when I care about
  music?
• How can I use data to help make decisions that
  will support kids and my program?
• What does it mean to be a data-driven music
  program?

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What are the issues?

• NCLB and data-driven school districts
• Federal and state mandates for testing
• ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, Second
  Language (grades 3-12)
• Career Technical, Physical Education
• What happens to Art and Music in the total
  education of children??

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Schools Districts Are Dealing With

• SED School Report Cards
• Frequency distribution of how students score in
  Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9-12
• Students scoring in Levels 1, 2, 3, 4
• Regents-for-All
• By 2014 school districts are expected to meet a
  performance index (PI) of 200
• Sub group populations and ending up on a LIST!!!!

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Accepting the facts of life?

• In an era of high stakes testing of basic
  academic skills, music education is often seen as
  superfluous.
• But, music combines the affective and cognitive
  domains,making its study an inherently
  intellectual activity.

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Accepting the facts of life???

• Cognition vs. affectdilemma?
• Arts as servants to academics, expecting to
  expand upon other areas

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3 Processes of Assessment

• All assessment involves
• Data collection
• Analysis
• Utilization of results

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Why Data? What Knowledge? What Decisions?

• Know that data are only crude information and not
  knowledge by themselves.

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The Sequence From Data to Knowledge
from Data to Information, from
Information to Facts, and
finally, from Facts to Knowledge
Fact becomes knowledge when it is used in the
successful conclusion of your decision process.
Data becomes information when it becomes relevant
to your decision problem.
Information becomes fact when the data can
support it.
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Data to Knowledge for Decisions
http//obelia.jde.aca.mmu.ac.uk/resdesgn/arsham/op
re330.htm
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The Importance of Data Being More Than Technical

• Knowledge is more than knowing something
  technical. Knowledge needs wisdom, and wisdom
  comes with age and experience.
• Wisdom is about knowing how something technical
  can be best used to meet the needs of the
  decision-maker.

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National Center for Educational Statistics

• http//nces.ed.gov
• Search results for music
• Document count music (995)
• http//search.nces.ed.gov/query.html?colncesqtm
  usiccharsetiso-8859-1

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NAEP Arts Assessment

• 1997, 6,480 eighth grade students in the nation.
• National sample assessed 268 schools.
• The assessment measured conceptual information in
  music, art, theatre and dance.

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• Figure 2.7, The NAEP 1997 Arts Report Card, 1997
  arts assessment.

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NAEP, Grade 8 Evaluation

• After students completed the improvisation and
  creation tasks, they completed two
  self-evaluation questions. Each question was
  scored using a three-level guide that classified
  responses as either Inadequate, Limited, or
  Adequate. Student responses were evaluated
  considering the overall accuracy, specificity,
  and appropriate use of musical vocabulary in the
  response.

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Student Self-Evaluation Questions
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• How do you drill down and use data for
  decision-making for your district, building,
  classroom, program, performing group?

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Accepting the Challenge

• Quantitative vs. Qualitative Data
• NYSSMA rating
• Enrollment data over a 5 year period
• Recognizing sub group populations
• Develop curriculum mapping and essential
  questions that can guide the instruction.
• Creating benchmarks for improvement
• Formative assessments constructing local
  assessments of musical knowledge
• Charting growth and knowledge patterns of musical
  behaviors

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Quantitative vs. Qualitative Data

• Quantitative Data
• Data measures and statistics that describe
  phenomena
• ELA 4 and 8 are quantitative instruments to
  assess students ability to master the standards.

• Qualitative Data
• Verbal descriptions portraying phenomena
• Narrative that describes perceived relationships.

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NYSSMA Ratings

• Quasi-objective process for adjudication of
  musical performance by students.
• Standardized system for deriving quantitative
  data from qualitative data.
• Charting frequency relationships
• Assessing progress and musical growth.
• Teaching to musical standards.

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NYSSMA Data Levels
Graph Charting Performance Levels Auditioned
Frequency Distribution of Performance
Levels
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NYSSMA Ratings Scores
Chart of NYSSMA Scores
NYSSMA Scores
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NYSSMA Data Sub Groups
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Enrollment Data Over 5 Years

• Frequency distribution of enrollment in choral
  and instrumental music ensembles
• Budgetary and programmatic considerations
• FTE Full Time Equivalent
• Recognizing and tracking sub-group populations
  i.e. students with special needs, race,
  socioeconomic need

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Curriculum Mapping

• Curriculum mapping is a procedure for collecting
  data about the operational curriculum in a school
  and in a districtthe instruction that students
  are experiencing.
• By mapping what's actually taught and when it's
  taught, teachers produce data that they can use
  in conjunction with assessment data to make
  revisions in instruction.

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• Formative Assessment On-going assessment within
  an educational program whose purpose is to
  improve the program as it progresses.
• Or
• Are They Learning What I am Teaching?
• http//www.music.miami.edu/assessment/glossary.htm
  l

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Formative Assessments

• Pre and Post testing musical knowledge to chart
  achievement and to inform instruction.
• Curriculum development that requires music
  teachers to teach musical concepts, not
  extra-musical trivia.
• Chart this information over time and develop the
  instructional potential.

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Formative Assessment Techniques for Music
Educators

• Essential Questions
• How often did you
• Student Journals, Portfolios, Logs, Notebooks
• Multiple choice tests
• Written assignments
• Projects
• Observation
• Interviewing
• Performance

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Assessment Data Possibilities

• NYS State Arts Assessment (keep dreaming)
• Local assessments ?? YES
• Mid Term Performance Assessments
• Assessments for NYS Standards constructed
  locally and used to inform instruction
• General Music Assessments
• "Inside the Black Box" article can be found on
  the Kappan web site at http//www.pdkintl.org/kap
  pan/kbla9810.htm

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Can You Relate?

• Many school instrumental music programs remove
  students from the regular classroom for
  individual or small-group instrumental
  instruction. Often, this practice causes tension
  among teachers and administrators.
• Many of those opposed to pull-out lessons are
  concerned that students will fall behind in their
  academic performance by missing classroom
  instruction time.

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Does Pull Out Affect Test Scores? What
do these data suggest?
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Elements of a Data-Driven Music Program

• Curriculum map of essential core concepts and
  precepts across all instructional areas
• Data on school student participation and
  achievement in music education across all areas.
• Map the delivery of curriculum in classrooms and
  rehearsal rooms.

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Continued

• Identify and monitor students with musical talent
  and nurture their involvement.
• Integrating music with other areas of the
  curriculum and arts education more broadly to
  make learning more engaging, particularly for
  disadvantaged and 'at-risk' students.
• Promote and market connections between music
  other curricula.

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A Tale of Two Teachers

• I remember two different music teachers from my
  youth. One instinctively applied principles of
  formative assessment, but focused on the
  emotional force of acquiring the music itself.
• giving encouragement, suggestions, techniques,
  all the tools required to create music beyond the
  simple
  decoding of the notes.
• Naturally becoming passionate about the power of
  the music in my own hands, I worked feverishly,
  caring about each twist and turn of the music in
  order to be able, one day, to move an audience to
  tears.

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A Tale of Two Teachers

• A second teacher was equally well-meaning, but
  relied on external motivation
• giving stars for scales well done, pieces
  learned, notes right, competitions entered.
• External motivation missed the opportunity to
  empower students.
• Students of that second teacher may get all the
  notes right and often go home happy with a new
  star in each successive book.
• But will they continue to practice music outside
  of the token economy motivational/assessment
  context?

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A Tale of Two Teachers

• Moreover, on one day when I had prepared
  particularly well, I wondered what the very empty
  feeling was when my teacher admitted she had
  accidentally run out of stars.

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Roles and Goals for Music Educators

• Visionary
• Become involved in the issues and concerns of
  other areas.
• Transform NYSSMA ratings into a viable statistic
  worth using.
• Find ways to meet needs of all students on all
  levels in all special groups.
• Be part of faculty committees on systemic issues.
• Stay current.

• Status Quo
• Isolate music away from other programs
• Care only about the NYSSMA ratings-hang it on a
  wall!!
• Promote the best, shoot the rest.
• Withdraw from building activities.
• Untouchables

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• Questions?
• Comments?

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Thank you for your attention

• Michael D. Tebbano, Ed.D.
• Assistant Superintendent,
• Bethlehem Central Schools
• 90 Adams Place
• Delmar, NY
• tebbmco_at_bcsd.neric.org
• Website
• www.mtebbano.com

• Sheila K. Tebbano, Ed.D.
• Director of School Safety Extended Day Programs
  
• Schenectady City School District
  108 Education Drive
• Schenectady, NY 12303
• tebbanos_at_schenectady.k12.ny.us
• Website
• www.stebbano.com