Telling the Whole Story: A Mixed Methods Process Evaluation of Middle School General Music Curriculum Reform

Abstract

This study is a mixed methods process evaluation of a middle school music curriculum reform in a large, Mid-Atlantic school district. The purpose of this study was to explore East Highland Public School District’s (a pseudonym), reform and implementation process of their seventh and eighth grade general music curricula. I constructed an understanding of the nature of the curricular reform, including structural circumstances that led to the change, the writing process and pilot phase, and enactment across the district. Further, I sought to investigate teacher perceptions of agency and conceptions of their teaching alignment with the new curriculum documents. Research questions guiding the study addressed the nature of the EHPSD curriculum reform, enactment process, and teacher perceptions. I framed this study through the theory of ecological teacher agency, which views agency as action with intention and emergent within the unique structures surrounding the individual. Data sources included old and new curricular documents, interviews with the EHPSD music supervisor and several teachers who were central to the writing process, and a questionnaire—Music Teacher Professional Agency Survey (MTPAS)—administered to all middle school general music teachers in the district. I approached data analysis using a multifaceted approach informed by scholarly recommendations for mixed methods process evaluation. First, I completed a thorough document analysis of the new general music curriculum—General Music I and General Music II (GMI and GMII). Next, I conducted interviews with the EHPSD music supervisor and three of the main curriculum writers. Finally, the quantitative strand of the study, included administering and analyzing data from the MTPAS where I sought to understand teachers’ perceptions of agency and conceptions of their teaching alignment with the written curriculum. I then formulated a theory of action, based mostly from the interview data with the music supervisor, to “test” the efficacy of the implementation process and uncover the underlying assumptions inherent in the enactment process. I mixed my qualitative and quantitative data strands by creating a data convergence matrix. Results indicated that based on the theory of action, the reform of EHPSD’s new middle school general music curriculum was carried out with relative fidelity. Instigated by a board-approved visual arts schedule change and overseen by EHPSD’s music supervisor, the reform process included curriculum design and writing time, a pilot program, and full implementation for both GMI and GMII. Through document analysis and exploration of interview data, I identified that the contents and processes included in GMI and GMII reflected progressive middle school general music values and curricula design. Survey results indicated positive perceptions of teacher agency and positive conceptions of pedagogical alignment with the document. In mixed methods analysis, several themes overlapped between interviews and survey responses.Findings from this study point toward the need for localized reform efforts that leverage teachers as instigators of reform design and enactment, in both program design and also in program and policy evaluation. Additionally, process and full impact evaluation work is important to music education to uncover curricular instruction, content, and teaching strategies that work in the pk-12 and higher education music classrooms.