An investigation of the concurrent validity of the Discipline -based Professional Teaching Standards of Teachers of Music in Connecticut

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions and practices of Connecticut Music Teachers toward the Connecticut Discipline-based Professional Teaching Standards for Teachers of Music. These Music Teaching Standards were developed into a questionnaire and distributed to public school music teachers, music administrators, and music teacher educators in Connecticut. The respondents were asked to rate the viability of the standards on a 4-point Likert scale in regard to frequency of use, importance to beginning teachers, importance to experienced teachers, and importance to student achievement. Responses (N = 192) were analyzed by frequency of response and teaching assignment (general, choral, or instrumental music) subgroups.;All Music Teacher Standards were perceived as being important to beginning teachers, experienced teachers, and to student achievement with one exception, the standard that describes the instructional skills for teaching students to create music (e.g., improvise, compose, arrange). Three of the 12 Music Teacher Standards were reported as not being frequently implemented by Connecticut music teachers, (1) the standard that describes the skills for teaching students to create music, (2) the standard that describes the skills for teaching students to respond to music (e.g., analyze, evaluate), and (3) the standard which pertains to leadership and music advocacy in the school and community. The Music Teacher Standards receiving the two highest ratings (over 90% of the two highest ratings in both frequency and importance) pertained to the development of a positive learning environment, applied teacher musicianship, and the development of performance skills in students.;In contrast to the combined music teacher population in Connecticut, general music teachers were found to perceive the instructional skills for creating music as being more important to teaching than do instrumental and choral music teachers. General music teachers in Connecticut most frequently implement the standards for teaching the importance of music and for developing skills for music analysis. The Connecticut Disciplined-based Professional Teaching Standards for Teacher for Teachers of Music were found to be valid in that the instructional skills and practices described were those reported as important for beginning and experienced music teachers and those important to student achievement.