Who Are We? Equity, Access, and Representation in American Music Education - Graduate Research Forum Review 2022

Oct 15, 2026

A Graduate Research Forum review from Contributions to Music Education outlines Dr. Kenneth Elpus’ keynote, “Who Are We? Equity, Access, and Representation in American Music Education,” presented at the 2022 Ohio Music Education Association conference. The address synthesizes nationally representative demographic work on music teachers and students, highlighting mismatches in teacher and learner diversity, the implications of “sorting,” and how federal policy under the Every Student Succeeds Act shapes unequal arts access.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Introducing the Speaker and Opening Remarks

Contributions to Music Education

Music Teacher Demographics

High School Arts Access & Middle School Music Student Demographics

Contributions to Music Education Vol. 47 (2022), pp. 229-235. ashBy golDstein The Ohio State University GRADUATE RESEARCH FORUM REVIEW 2022 Who Are We? Equity, Access, and Representation in American Music Education In early February, music educators from across the Buckeye state convened in Cleveland for the annual Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) Professional Development Conference . This year’s OMEA Graduate Research Forum featured Dr . Kenneth Elpus, renowned music education scholar, as the keynote speaker . Dr . Elpus is associate professor of music education and associate director at the University of Maryland School of Music . His research efforts have primarily focused on music education and educational policy, music student and teacher demographics, and access to arts education in the United States . Dr . Elpus’ keynote address highlighted his past, present, and ongoing research analyzing nationally representative data sets . Attendees were fortunate to view his in-process work on music teacher demography and his recently published studies on the availability of highschool arts courses and the demographic profile of middle school music students . Keywords: music teachers, music students, music enrollment, high school, middle school, music achievement, arts course offerings, equity, access, representation, demographics Introducing the Speaker and Opening Remarks In early February, music educators from across the Buckeye state convened in Cleveland for the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) Professional Development Conference. The annual conference offers learning opportunities for all music educators, from pre-service music teachers to current practitioners and collegiate music educators. After a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the OMEA Graduate Research Forum featured Dr. Kenneth Elpus, a renowned music education scholar, as the keynote speaker. Contributions to Music Education Dr. Elpus is associate professor of music education and associate director atthe University of Maryland School of Music. His research efforts have primarily focused on music education and educational policy, music student and teacher demographics, and access to arts education in the United States. A highly regarded quantitative researcher, his work has been published in numerous journals, including the Journal of Research in Music Education, the Music Educators Journal, Arts Education Policy Review, and Music Education Research. In his opening remarks, Elpus stated he was delighted to be presenting in person for the first time since the onset of the pandemic and thanked OMEA for the invitation. He acknowledged that the National Endowment for the Arts funded portions of these studies; however, any opinions expressed were solely his. The studies presented are part of his ongoing demographic profile work on music students (see Elpus, 2015a, 2022a; Elpus & Abril, 2011, 2019) and music teachers (see Elpus, 2015b) . As such, OMEA members in attendance were eager to hear Elpus’ keynote titled, Who Are We? Equity, Access, and Representation in American Music Education. Music Teacher Demographics The session commenced with a brief review of extant studies on elementary and secondary teacher demographics. Elpus shared that teaching is one of the largest occupations in the United States, with approximately 3.8 million workers (Taie & Goldring, 2017) . However, this sizeable workforce does not reflect the increasing diversity among students when considering teachers are predominately female (77%) and White (81.9%) (Beteille et al., 2009; Goldring et al., 2013) . Elpus raised concern regarding this incongruence between teachers and students as research shows learners perform better academically when matched with teachers from similar backgrounds (Thomas et al., 2009) . Studies have explored strategies and interventions for recruiting and retaining teachers from underrepresented races and ethnicities (A

FAQs

What is the central topic of Dr. Kenneth Elpus’ keynote?

The keynote focuses on “Who Are We? Equity, Access, and Representation in American Music Education,” examining demographic patterns and disparities in music education.

How does the review describe gaps between music teachers and students?

Teachers are described as predominantly female and White, while student diversity is increasing, creating an incongruence linked to academic performance when students are matched with teachers from similar backgrounds.

What role does ESSA play in arts access discussed in the keynote?

ESSA is presented as defining music and arts within a “well-rounded curriculum,” yet students lack equal access to arts coursework, with several states not requiring arts classes across secondary levels.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by RuangKosong