The purpose of this project was to examine the perceptions of private studio-based music teachers regarding recruitment and retention of students. Gaining insight and understanding into the careers of private studio-based music teachers is a way to help practicing teachers and educate students who aspire to have a similar career path. Research questions included: (a) How do students and teachers become acquainted with one another? (b) What strategies do private studio-based teachers use to attract students? (c) What factors impact the effectiveness of recruitment and retention strategies used by private studio-based music teachers? (d) Why do students choose to begin privately studying music? (e) Why do students discontinue lessons? Ultimately, private studio-based teachers were found to rely on many factors and phenomena to help them recruit new students. Word of mouth, location, reputation, presence in schools, and performance were discovered to be common attractions to potential students. After a student began lessons the following aspects impacted the retention period: Enjoyment or fun, achievement, teaching methods, distractions, parental involvement, and the teacher’s perception of retention. / School of Music

The purpose of the study was to investigate independent piano teachers' view of themselves in the light of selected attributes found in sociological writings on the professions. The research problems were: (a) to determine the attitudes which independent piano teachers held toward selected professional attributes; (b) to determine the relationship between the attitudes toward the professional attributes and selected background variables; and (c) to determine the degree of association between these attributes. The problems were addressed by a questionnaire directed to independent piano teachers active in the area of Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas. Thirty teachers were also interviewed to determine consistency of response and to explore issues which the questionnaire had raised. Reliability and validity were established at acceptable levels. Techniques of statistical analysis included Pearson's product-moment correlation, multiple regression, chi-square in conjunction with Cramer's V_, and factor analysis. The strongest attitudes expressed by the teachers in the study concerned professional self-image, altruism, client orientation, commitment to work, and independence. The most important background variables were age, years of experience, number of students, certification by a professional association, and college degree in music. A multiple regression analysis tested each variable against the dependent variable professional self-image; recognition by others, commitment to work, client orientation, and qualification were found to account for 25% of the common variance. A factor analysis was also conducted to seek out patterns of attitudes among the attributes being studied; seven factors were identified among the subjects' belief systems as Professional Actions, Satisfaction, Quality Control, Professionalism, Compliance, Autonomy, and Focus on Student. These factors accounted for almost half of the total variance in the data. The study concluded that: (a) independent piano teaching was a female-dominated, subsidized occupation, and (b) the piano teachers' professional self-image seemed to be an evaluation of themselves and their work, rather than the use of profession as a definable goal for which to strive.

Each music teacher steps into their classroom as an educator shaped by their unique life experiences. Former music teachers, ensemble participation, culture, media, teacher education, and family dynamics are just a few of the influences that make each music teacher unique. Acknowledged or not, these factors shape the verbal messages of music teachers in the classroom. This study explored how elementary music teachers explicitly share what they believe about the potential of their students’ musical ability through verbal messages during instruction. Symbolic interactionism was used as the theoretical framework for this study because it helps explain how people attach meaning to language through social interactions. Carol Dwek’s growth mindset research was the lens for the theoretical framework. The growth mindset framework of Dweck was adapted for music in this study to help teachers identify and reflect on their mindset and explore how applicable it might be as a framework for music educators to foster growth in developing musicians. This intervention study recruited four elementary music teachers. Interviews, classroom observations, a Likert scale survey, open-ended questions, and reflection prompts were used to collect data. Each instrument's design was built on Dweck’s research regarding mindset identification but adapted for musical ability. The four research questions sought to capture the experiences of participants from their existing knowledge of growth mindset practices to observable changes after the growth mindset intervention. The data were analyzed and coded to find evidence of fixed and growth mindsets explicitly in elementary music instruction before and after the growth mindset was used as an intervention. This study showed that a growth mindset framework can only be observed through verbal messages when opportunities for skill development are authentically facilitated. The bulk of verbal examples presented in this study indicate that a growth mindset is embedded in the scaffolding of effective teaching strategies. Triggers of a fixed mindset with verbal examples are presented with implications for practice and suggestions for future research.

This multiple-bounded case study explored charter-school music teacher practitioners’(MTPs’) and instructional leaders’ (ILs’) perceptions of professional development (PD) in four charter management organizations (CMOs). The purpose was to provide a rich description of these practitioners’ professional development, with the goal of spurring policy conversations and further research on music teachers and their experiences in the charter domain. Over two months in the fall of 2023, the researcher conducted one-on-one interviews with eight participants, which focused on ways of making change, methods of delivery, beneficial components of the methods of supporting music literacy, and forms of PD assessment from the perspectives of MTPs and ILs. In addition to holding two focus groups (one with each case), the researcher conducted four classroom and debrief observations. The interviews and observations were analyzed using the participants’ words as first-cycle analysis themes; these were then filtered through the study’s conceptual framework of Desimone’s (2009) core elements of effective professional development: content focus, active learning, coherence, sustained duration, and collective participation. The findings illustrate the participants’ experience with the professional development phenomenon through a series of main themes: instruction is classroom management, except PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN CHARTER SCHOOLS when it is not, (b) the many moods of instructional coaching and workshops, (c) content expertise via cycles of inquiry, and (d) reflection is essential. Implications include framing future empirical research in this usually guarded sector as a partnership to identify best and emergent practices for practitioners that directly affect students and families. Framing research in this manner may resonate with charter management organizations that adhere to more formative professional development practices. Additionally, cycles of inquiry in which self-reflection can occur may be a way forward for myriad non-content-expert instructional leaders who support the professional development of music teacher practitioners in charter schools or traditional public schools. Further suggestions for future practice include hosting charter-specific sessions at music education conferences, which could be framed as dialogic sessions to foster collegial inquiry concerning practices at both charter and public schools. Because CMOs’ system structures are different, practitioners there experience some aspects of teaching and professional development differently than their traditional public counterparts. Offering sessions specifically tailored to charter practitioners’ needs could help ensure that their needs, as well as those of the ILs that support them, are met. Keywords: Professional Development, Charter Schools, In-Service Music Teacher Practitioners, Instructional Leaders, Instructional Coaching, Mentors, Workshops.