The Effects of Instrumental Pullout Lessons on Academic Achievement in Grades 1-5 and Teacher Attitudes Jenna Stamper

Reason for study Pullout Lessons are a common way to incorporate instrumental music into schools, particularly in younger grades. 63.5% of bands use pullout lessons (Delzell & Doerksel 1998 as cited by Hash) 74.3% of orchestras use pullout lessons (Delzell & Doerksel 1998 as cited by Hash) Teacher Concerns Will my students get behind in their schoolwork? Will this cause my workload to increase? Will this negatively affect students grades? Did not know the prevalence of pullout lessons Most of these lessons took place in academic class times

Lit. Review: Related Studies Kvet (1985) Compared 6th grade student cumulative achievement in reading, language, math Large Sample size: 4 districts, 26 different schools Varying demographics, but similar set up for pullout lessons Used matched pairing system to control for variables Results: No Significant Difference Wallick (1998) Compared all 4th grade students in an Ohio school district (9,900 students in district) based on the Ohio Proficiency Test (OPT) Used Matched pair system Results: No Difference in Writing or Mathematics. Pullout Students significantly higher score in reading and citizenship

Lit Review Cont’d Hash (2011) Compared 8th grade scores based on ACTExplore test Students involved in band for 5 years Results: Students involved in band scored significantly higher No difference between band students and non band students that scored above the mean Others with similar research (and similar results) Holm- 5th grade Corral- 4th and 5th grade Groff- 6th grade

Setting St. Benedict Preparatory School PreK- 12 Catholic School Around 850 students total- around 300 in elementary school Pullout Lessons on a Fixed Schedule Meet twice a week for 30 minutes Grouped by class for strings (grades 1-4) Grouped by instrument family for band (grades 4 and 5) Woodwinds Brass and Percussion

Participants Elementary School- Classes involved in the study 4 first grade classes 4 second grad classes 4 third grade classes 3 fourth grade classes 2 fifth grade classes All teachers who have students taken out for instrumental music will take survey Specific numbers are unknown at this point

Purpose of My Study To determine whether pullout lessons affect academic achievement in grades 1-5 Most research focuses on 4th grade and up Starting grade typically 4th grade for strings and 5th grade for band (Hartley & Porter, 2009) Based on GPA in Math, Science, Social Studies, Reading/Language arts Also cumulative grade Analyze teacher attitudes towards pullout lessons

Limitations Study takes place in one catholic school only Public school student population different than private school Grading scale based on GPA, not standardized test Because of the relatively low number of participants it may not represent the general population Study does not examine the effects of pullout lessons on their musical achievement

Research Questions Is there a significant difference in academic achievement between students involved in pullout lessons and students who are not? Is there a significant difference between each grade level and the academic achievement of students involved in pullout lessons and students who are not? Is there a significant difference in academic achievement between subjects within each grade level? What are the teacher attitudes in relation to pullout lessons?

Method/ Data Collection Part 1 Collect grades in the subjects of Math, Science, Social Studies and Language arts for each grade level Split into groups: instrumental pullout lesson students and non pullout lesson students Convert grades from Letter grades into Point-based scale ( A= 4.0, B= 3.0, C= 2.0, D= 1.0) Find the Mean, Mode, Standard Deviation of GPA within each subject in each grade Find the Mean, Mode, Standard Deviation of cumulative grade within each grade

Method/Data Collection Part 2 Survey of teachers attitudes towards pullout lessons Uses a 7 point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree – strongly agree one open ended question Most Likely paper survey Sample Survey Questions: Instrumental Music is important in our school Pullout lesson do not interfere with my regular teaching Pullout lessons do not require me to spend extra time with students who are involved I encourage students to join the instrumental music program Pullout lessons are the best way to incorporate instrumental music

Data Analysis Mean, Mode, Standard deviation of GPA for band and non- band students By Grade Level By subject within Grade Level ANOVA (p<.05) Is there a significant difference between pullout lessons and non- pullout lesson students? Results of Survey Count frequency of responses Descriptive statistics Could use Cronbach’s alpha

Questions?