PUBLIC SECONDARY INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC EDUCATORS' USE OF TEACHING ARTISTS TO MEET THE NEEDS OF THE 21ST CENTURY STUDENT

This study examines how secondary instrumental music educators are meeting the needs of their students by partnering with teaching artists in the classroom. The central questions to this study are: what are the services that teachers have access to through instrumental performing arts organizations; and how do those services meet the needs of their classroom? There are several studies that outline how and why partnerships between classroom educators and teaching artists are successful, but there is no national scope of what is being done and how these tools are being used. To complete this study, I analyzed national longitudinal data provided through the Cultural Data Project’s “Data Arts Survey” and conducted a national survey of secondary instrumental educators. Using this research, classroom teachers can find what they can expect in partnering with an organization and which types of organizations provide the most robust programming options. There are also implications for arts organizations on how they can better support the needs of teachers and form better sustained long term partnerships.