A Survey of Elementary and Secondary Music Educators' Professional Background, Teaching Responsibilities and Job Satisfaction in the United States.
The focus of this exploratory study was to examine the current trends of K 12 music educators in the United States regarding their (a) professional background, (b) classroom teaching responsibilities, and (c) job satisfaction. Participants included seven thousand four hundred and sixty three (N 7,463) currently employed music teachers who were members of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) during the 2015 2016 academic year. To assess the variables, participants responded to a researcher created 49 item Music Educator Survey for K 12 Teachers. Results indicate that overall, K 12 music educators were predominately Caucasian (90.9% and have been teaching less than 20 years (74.4% The majority of music teachers hold bachelor's degrees (98.1% with 56.2 holding masters' degrees. 96.8 held music teaching certification for their state and work in the public school systems (89.4% Overall, music educators were satisfied in their teaching positions indicating reasons related to student engagement and relationships. Results of this study can serve to aid in music education advocacy, designing music teacher professional development, and enhancing the effectiveness of music teacher education programs. Introduction In 1997, Linda Darling Hammond's National Commission on Teaching and America's Future follow up report "Doing what matters most: Investing in Quality Teaching" outlined challenges facing teachers. These challenges include a shortage of qualified teachers, access to professional development, mentoring and collaborative planning time for in service teachers, low pay, and lack of decision making responsibilities. These issues still resonate two decades later as a demand for teachers is on the rise with teacher attrition as the most significant factor for the 1 Matthews and Koner: A Survey of Elementary and Secondary Music Educators' Professiona Published by UST Research Online, 2017 current teacher shortage (Sutcher, Darling Hammond, and Carver Thomas, 2016) Work overload and large class settings have also been found to contribute to teacher burn out and attrition (Bernhard 2007, Heston, Dedrick, Raschke, and Whitehead, 1996) Thus, it is important to examine the demographics of contemporary teachers in the United States, listen to their current views and experiences, and gather data from professionals working in the field to provide a better understanding and support for their teaching situations and careers. Specifically, the intent of the present study was to examine the current trends of K 12 music educators in the United States regarding their (a) professional background, (b) classroom teaching responsibilities, and (c) job satisfaction. Review of Literature Utilizing the 1999 2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and the 2000 2001 Teacher Followup Survey (TFS) which were both collected through the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Gardner (2010) found that music teachers are predominately female (61% female vs. 39% male) most had a bachelor's degree (98.1% followed by 40.2% holding a bachelor's and master's degree) and predominately described themselves as white (89.6% Scholars have found similar trends with collegiate level instructors, with music teacher educators and collegiate band directors being predominantly white and male (Gould, 2003; Hewitt and Thompson, 2006) The predominance of white and male demographics also permeates through studies of obstacles facing pre service music teachers. For example, Fitzpatrick and colleagues (2014) observed cases of students from marginalized populations who faced many obstacles to entering and completing music education college programs, such as lack of information and resources. Additionally, Elpus (2015) 2 Research Issues in Music Education, Vol. 13 [2017] No. 1, Art. 2 http:/ir.stthomas.edu/rime/vol13/iss1/2 examined the music teacher licensure test results (PRAXIS II) finding that minorities and female candidates' scores were lower on the Praxis II than their white and male counterparts. Additional information from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) showed that a higher percentage of music teachers (86.8% versus other types of teachers (55.4% taught in secondary grades, a majority of music teachers worked fulltime (62.9% and most music teachers in this study worked in suburban communities (44.5% followed by 30.6% in rural areas, and 24.9% in large or mid size central cities. Also, music teachers are more likely to teach in multiple buildings within a school district than their teacher counterparts (Gardner, 2010) Similarly, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (2009) reported that 46% of full time secondary public school teachers reported they were teaching at more than one school and 36% reported teaching courses outside of regular school hours, which did not include any extracurricular activities (Parsad, Spiegelman Coopersmith, 2012) Regarding the role of music as a subject in K 12 schools, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) 1999 2000 report showed 90% of public secondary schools taught music in the schools, and this number slightly increased to 91% in the 2009 follow up report. Of the secondary schools who responded, 46% reported offering five or more music courses, and 81% stated they had a fulltime music specialist on staff. Similarly, in a study of 541 high school principals, it was found that band was offered in 93% of their schools, followed by choir (88% jazz/rock ensemble (55% and orchestra (42% (Abril Gault, 2008) Job satisfaction, retention rates, and teacher burnout of in service educators has been examined and discussed (Boyd, Grossman, Ing, Lankford, Loeb, Wycoff, 2011; Friedman and Farber, 1992; Gardner, 2010; Heston, Dedrick, Raschke, Whitehead, 1996; Lander, Alter, Servilio, 2008; Madsen Hancock, 2002; Russell, 2008) throughout music education literature. 3 Matthews and Koner: A Survey of Elementary and Secondary Music Educators' Professiona Published by UST Research Online, 2017 For example, Lander, Alter, Servilio (2008) examined student behavior and its impact on teachers' job satisfaction with K 12 teachers (N 540) and found a correlation between the presence of students' disrespectful behavior and a reduced level of teacher job satisfaction. Also, the results indicated that the higher the grade level taught (e.g. high school) the lower the job satisfaction level of the teacher. Further, Heston, Dedrick, Raschke, and Whitehead (1996) found that band director's sources of job satisfaction included student success, followed by parental and administrative support. Their sources of stress included negative student attitudes, inappropriate student behaviors, and teaching load. Russell (2008) examined string teachers' (N 304) beliefs regarding their career plans at one year and at five years of employment, finding that the majority of teachers plan to stay in their jobs for the first year but, only half of the teachers surveyed plan to continue in their career after the fifth year. Their reasons for staying or leaving the profession centered around the importance of music in the curriculum, satisfaction with students, psychological factors and teachers' economic status. Krueger (2000) interviewed thirty music teachers in their first ten years of public school teaching in the state of Washington. Of those who indicated a desire to leave music education as a career, the primary problem viewed was insufficient administrative support. Secondary problems included isolation from other music teachers, poor music facilities, and inadequate budgets. Music teachers with a strong mentor or a support system comprised of other music teachers were found to be more satisfied in music education as a career than those of whom were isolated. Music educators' teaching stages and perceptions of the outcomes and direction of a long term career in music education (e.g. Brand, 1983; Eros, 2011; Russell, 2012) have also been explored. Brand (1983) met with a group of six music educators to examine their stages of 4 Research Issues in Music Education, Vol. 13 [2017] No. 1, Art. 2 http:/ir.stthomas.edu/rime/vol13/iss1/2 their music teaching careers. He found that for these music educators, the time period between the ages of 28 to 33 was the most unsettling as to wanting to examine other career options, branch into graduate studies, and assess their current teaching strategies and situations. As it is unknown what age exactly these six music educators started their teaching careers, it can be estimated that if they graduated from college around ages 22 or 23, the five year mark of teaching, as discussed by Russell would be the beginning of this phase on uncertainty as discussed by Brand. In hopes of exploring more information regarding the attrition issue of new educators, scholars have continued to explore challenges faced by young teachers (DeLorenzo, 1992; Fredrickson Neill, 2004; Madsen Kelly, 2002) including music teacher turnover at the state level (Killian Baker, 2006) and music teacher attrition in relation to administrative support, resource availability, and professional networks (Hancock, 2008; Kruger, 2000; Madsen Hancock, 2002) Stress and burnout have been linked to music teacher retention with both conditions stemming from inadequate support, non instructional responsibilities, and feelings of isolation (Hamann, Daugherty, Mills, 1987; Heston, Dedrick, Raschke, Whitehead, 1996; Hodge, Jupp, Taylor, 1994; McLain, 2005; Sindberg Lipscomb, 2005) The role of administration has also been examined and its impact on music teacher job satisfaction and attrition (Gardner, 2010, Greenwood, 1991) In the aforementioned Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) study (Gardner) teachers indicated they did not have much influence over school wide policies but had high levels of a