A study of administrators\u27 and music educators\u27 perceptions of successful high school music programs in Nebraska

The purpose for conducting this study was to identify and examine the relationship of selected factors contributing to school administrators\u27 and music educators\u27 concepts of a successful music program. Specifically, the study was designed to identify the factors which administrators and music educators rated as contributing to a successful music program. Once the factors had been identified and named, the relationships among and between these factors and their relationships to selected demographic variables were investigated. The Successful Music Program Inventory (SMPI), developed by the researcher for the collection of data, contained five demographic items and seventy-two items which were answered by using a five point rating scale. Reliability of the SMPI was determined by use of Cronbach\u27s coefficient alpha (r =.96) and was judged to be highly acceptable for this study. The stratified, random, sample consisted of school administrators and music educators selected from all classes of high schools in Nebraska (N = 160). Factors identified through factor analysis by administrators and music educators as contributing to a successful high school music program included: (1) Teacher Effectiveness, (2) Community Support, (3) Skill and Knowledge-Based Outcomes, (4) Participation, (5) Administrative Support, and (6) Recognition and Visibility. Little difference was found in the way in which the two groups of respondents rated the factors. Differences among factors were examined using ANOVA procedures with Tukey HSD follow-up tests. Both administrators and music educators regarded Teacher Effectiveness as the most important factor in determining whether a music program was successful. For administrators, this factor was significantly different from any other factor; for music educators, factors two and three were equally important. Recognition and Visibility was among the lowest rated factors by both groups of respondents and was significantly different from any other factor for music educators. Comparisons between ratings at the.008 level of significance using independent t-tests produced only one significant difference between ratings for the Skill and Knowledge-Based factor. Pearson product-moment correlation produced no consequential relationships between selected demographic variables and SMPI factors