Examination of Relationships between Participation in School Music Programs of Differing Quality and Standardized Test Results

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationship between participation in contrasting school music programs and standardized test scores. Relationships between elementary (third- or fourth-grade) students' academic achievement at comparable schools, but with contrasting music programs as to instructional quality, were investigated. Relationships also were examined between middle school (eighth-or ninth-grade) students' academic achievement and their participation in school music programs that also differed in quality. Participants (N = 4,739) were students in elementary (n = 1,119) and middle schools (n = 3,620) from the South, East Coast, Midwest, and West Coast of the United States. All scores were standardized for comparison purposes. Analysis of elementary school data indicated that students in exemplary music education programs scored higher on both English and mathematics standardized tests than their counterparts who did not have this high-quality instruction; however, the effect sizes were slight. Analysis of middle school data indicated that for both English and math, students in both exceptional music programs and deficient instrumental programs scored better than those in no music classes or deficient choral programs; however, the effect sizes were not large.