This article is a multiple case study of policy in Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon. Both cities have developed programs that utilize government funding to increase access to public school K-5 arts education. While each city used a different path for advocacy and policy change, there were common threads that could be used as a framework…

Elementary music teachers are required to attend long-term, campus-wide professional development outside their content area. The purpose of this interpretive qualitative study was to better understand how elementary music teachers in a North Texas and a South-Central Colorado school district who have had five or more years of teaching experience…

In this article, I analyze the interaction between America's federal Indigenous policy and music education as a distinct policy tool of Indigenous assimilation, tracing the transition from the Allotment and Assimilation Era to the modern Era of Self-Determination. Throughout United States history, music education has served the policy interests of…

Music educators engage with policies and take policy actions on a daily basis. Better understanding their everyday policy contexts can empower music educators to interact with policies in ways that benefit students and local communities. In this article, we outline three main topics: (1) different types of policies and their associated…

Teacher-focused accountability started to ramp up in the United States in 2007-2010 as the focus of accountability shifted from schools to individual teachers. Since that time, there has been a remarkable amount of change to the way that teachers are evaluated, and music teachers have been placed squarely under the microscope of accountability. In…

In this literature review, I explore poverty, the barriers to participation that exist for students in poverty, and why this issue should matter to music educators. Research findings about students and poverty generally fall into three categories: logistics, teacher attitudes, and policy. I identify participation barriers in each of these…

As the title suggests, the author provides a description of an international effort to develop an understanding of the present depth and priority of arts policies. As arts policy is not limited to education but formulated at all levels of community, including unions, individuals, philanthropic organizations, and government agencies, policy often…