Preparing music teachers for Iowa K--12 schools: An analysis of the music education curricula at Iowa colleges and universities

The purpose of the study was to identify the differences in the credit requirements among the 25 Iowa colleges and universities offering undergraduate music education degrees, and compare these requirements to the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) recommended guidelines. The study further investigated collegiate faculty perceptions of the music skills and teaching characteristics needed by beginning music teachers in Iowa schools, and compared these perceptions to the skills and teaching characteristics Iowa K-12 administrators perceive as most important for beginning music teachers.;Program analysis uncovered differences between the 25 institutions' degree components. Though the total degree hours were quite similar, the number of hours for music requirements, general education requirements, and professional education requirements distinguishes each individual program. Comparison of institutions and NASM standards revealed that general education requirements exceeded recommended NASM standards and professional education requirements were significantly higher for every institution than the NASM guidelines recommend. Twenty-eight senior collegiate faculty members completed a 29-question survey with 88.0% response from the 25 Iowa collegiate programs, and 80.0% of randomly selected administrators completed a similar survey. Results indicated some differences in perception concerning important skills and characteristics, but no significant difference was discovered overall between the collegiate faculty perceptions of music skills and teaching characteristics and those of Iowa administrators. The strong response by K-12 administrators to this study indicated concern and interest in maintaining high quality music teaching in the schools.