Music Program Recruiting

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Recruiting Choir Students

An action research project by

Lee Andres

Grand Canyon University

EDU 590

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ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT

Table of ContentsSlide 1 – Title PageSlide 2 – Table of ContentsSlide 3 – Focus and Baseline DataSlide 4 – Performance ObjectivesSlide 5 – Clarifying Theories: Literature Review 1Slide 6 – Clarifying Theories: Literature Review 2Slide 7 – Clarifying Theories: Literature Review 3Slide 8 – Clarifying Theories: Literature Review 4Slide 9 – Clarifying Theories: Literature Review 5Slide 10 – Hypothesis, Research Question and InterventionSlide 11 – Graphic Reconstruction: The ProblemSlide 12 – Graphic Reconstruction: Possible SolutionSlide 13 – Collecting the DataSlide 14 – Triangulation MatrixSlide 15 – Data Analysis and ReportSlide 16 – Data Analysis and Report continuedSlide 17 – Data Analysis and Report continuedSlide 18 – Data Analysis and Report continuedSlide 19 – Data Analysis and Report continuedSlide 20 – Data Analysis and Report continuedSlide 21 – Data Analysis and Report continuedSlide 22 – Data Analysis and Report continuedSlide 23 – The Action PlanSlide 24 – The ReflectionSlide 25 – References

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FocusHow do we get more kids to join the vocal music program?

Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado has been faced with declining enrollment over the last several years.The declining enrollment is primarily due to the natural cycle of the area. That is, the number of young households withchildren moving into the area is less than the number of older households without students in the Columbine area schoolsthat are not moving out of the area. Subsequently, the enrollment in the vocal music program has declined, because thereare fewer students at Columbine, and now there are fewer course offerings throughout the curriculum and competitionamong electives has become greater. The researcher strongly believes that this is an appropriate research topic because thesurvival of the program is dependent upon the number of students who participate in the program. In addition, the number ofstudents in a vocal music program directly affects the quality of a program because the more students that participate, thewider variety of talent that is found in the program.

Baseline DataThe trend in declining enrollment over the last three years at Columbine High School:

The 2002 – 2003 and 2003 – 2004 figures are taken from the official figures sent by Columbine High School to the ColoradoHigh School Activities Association. The 2004 – 2005 school year is taken from the Columbine High School database.

2002 – 2003 School Year 2003 – 2004 School Year 2004-2005 School Year Total Enrollment: 1737 Total Enrollment: 1675 Total Enrollment: 1610Total Department enrollment: 348 Total Department enrollment: 299 Total Department enrollment: 270

The total department enrollment figures for all three years include students enrolled in more than one vocal music class.

Time LineThe researcher plans to survey the students in the program, any new students that join the program, and fellow vocal musicteachers within the school district. The researcher hopes to have all of this accomplished early in January of 2005 when thenew semester begins and the actual number of new student to the program are known.

Criteria for SuccessThe researcher believes that any increase in the number of students would be a success. However the researcher

feels that a minimum of new of 4 new students would be considered fair, 10 new students good, 16 new studentsExcellent and 22 new students would be excellent. The following slide contains the performance objectives for the project.

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Table of Measurable Performance Objectives

TRAIT POOR - 1 FAIR - 2 GOOD - 3 EXCELLENT - 4 OUTSTANDING - 5

The number of students that are added to the program by the end of the semester.

No new students are added to the program.

4 new students are added regardless of what grade they are in.

10 new students are added to the program regardless of what grade they are in.

16 new students are added to the program regardless of what grade they are in.

All goals are met with a minimum of 22 students are added to the program. The ideal ratio would be as follows:Seniors – 2 Juniors - 4Sophomores – 6Freshman - 10

Present students recruit new students for the program.

Students in the program add no new students to the program.

Students in the program add 3 new students to the program.




Teachers recruit new students for the program.

Teachers add no new students to the program.

Teachers add 1 new student to the program.

Teachers add 2 new students to the program.



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Clarifying TheoriesThe following slides contain a literature review done by the researcher.

SUMMARY 1The first article reviewed was “Recruiting and Retaining Males” by Kenneth Phillips,

published in Teaching Music in 1995. The author looked at possible reasons why young boys do not sing in school choirs and suggested several methods for recruiting boys to sing in the school choir.

Phillips first briefly looked at why boys, especially elementary and middle school age boys choose not to sing. The primary reason is that young boys think they will be ridiculed by their peers or, as in one case the author cited, by their own family members (older brothers). The problem for young boys is their voices are still unchanged and their voices sound much like a girl’s voice. The author points out that boys need to be taught the proper way to sing and be convinced that the way they sing does not in any way take away from their “boyness/manhood.” Changing societal attitudes in a positive way about boys and singing is the biggest challenge for any choir teacher

The vast majority of the article dealt with positive ways to model good singing for boys and suggestions for recruiting boys to sing in the school choir. The author first discussed ways to equate singing with sports by emphasizing the physical aspects of singing including physical conditioning and warm ups, especially when dealing with younger boys. The author also emphasized good modeling when teaching students to sing including helping them sing in their range, thus giving them success and a positive self image about their singing. One way for boys to gain a positive image is to see other boys successfully singing. Having boys see a children’s choir with a large number of boys or a high school group with boys can help create a positive image of singing. The author then made several suggestions about how to recruit boys including getting boys to participate in the school musical, recruiting during study halls and fee periods, and creating a male chorus in the high school.

REFLECTIONWhile this article was not a traditional research paper, the author made several excellent

points about boys and singing. The researcher taught elementary school for ten years and constantly fought the image that singing was an activity for “sissies”. While being a male helped to change this attitude and the researcher certainly understands the problem, he still have to fight it at the high school level. The author’s suggestions for having young boys see older boys sing is something that is done by the researcher on a yearly basis. His ensembles annually perform at the five feeder elementary schools and he counts on this experience to attract kids into singing when they come to the high school. In many ways the author confirmed that what is already happening at Columbine High School right now, and what the researcher did as an elementary teacher was on the right track. He has long felt that recruiting kids to sing in a high school program begins before the kids get to the high school and this article confirms that belief.

Phillips, K. H. (1995). Recruiting and retaining males. [Electronic version] Teaching Music, 2, 28 – 19.


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Clarifying TheoriesSUMMARY 2

The second article reviewed was “Recruiting for the Choral Ensemble by Emphasizing Skill and Effort”By Christopher W. Peterson, published in the Music Educators Journal in 2002. The author looked at whyPeople feel they cannot sing and how a choral director can change that attitude in order to recruit students forthe program.

The first half of the article focused on why people feel they do not have musical ability. The authorpointed out that studies have shown that attribution theory, the belief about why one succeeds or fails at agiven activity, is primary reason why people have a particular self-concept about their musical abilities. Atsome point in their lives, usually at the elementary ages, a student has either had a successful experience or apoor experience dealing with singing. According to the author, attribution theory states “there are four generalcauses to which people attribute success and failure: luck, effort, ability, and task difficulty.” Research hasshown that beliefs about ability and effort come from within the person and luck and task difficulty are derivedfrom external sources. In addition, ability and task difficulty are perceived as unchangeable in the minds ofmany people creating the notion that people are born with musical talent or they are not, thereby making itdifficult for a music teacher to convince the average student that they can sing.

The author then explored ways to recruit students to sing in a choral program armed with the knowledgethat many, if not most, people believe that they do not have the talent to sing. The first thing a teacher has to dois realize that recruiting students to sing is a fact of life for a choir director. The author points out that research\shows that 95 percent of all people can learn to match pitch and become competent singers, and therefore thedirector should make every effort to talk to as many students as they possibly can to raise the number ofsingers they have in their program. Even if a singer does not immediately show interest in singing, planting theseed by explaining that most people can sing, like most people can learn to do math, can result in a studentjoining at a later time. Convincing students that they do not have to be the best singer in order to be acompetent singer, and that this can be done purely through effort and hard work, is the challenge for the highschool director. Finally the author points out that making every effort to make the non-singer welcome in yourclass by giving them attention, helping them out by assigning a student to be a “choir buddy”, and simplyasking how they are doing after a rehearsal can go a long way in relieving their initial fears about the student’slack of talent and ability.

REFLECTIONOnce again this article confirms many of the things the researcher already does to recruit students and

maintain singers in his program. His experience with elementary students has shown that a vast majority ofstudents can sing if given the proper encouragement and training. Singing is a skill to be learned and likeanything else, some people are better at it than others, but that does not mean that the average student cannotbe successful or have fun doing it. Convincing students that with a little effort and hard work they can becomea valuable member of a successful choral program is probably the hardest part of recruiting. Once a teacher hasthe proverbial “foot in the door”, they can continue to work on a student, even if they choose to join at a latertime. Probably more than anything else, this article motivates me to work harder at recruiting kids and makesThe researcher realize that bys simply talking to a kid about singing is not a waste of time, because one neverknow when that conversation might lead to a kid changing his/her thinking about their own abilities.

Peterson, C. W. (2002). Recruiting for the choral ensemble by emphasizing skill and effort. [Electronic version] Music Educators Journal, 89, 32-35.


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The third article reviewed was “College Choir Members’ Motivation to Persist in Music: Application ofthe Tinto Model” by Veronica O. Sichivista, published in the Journal of Research in Music Education in 2003. The researcher looked at why college students continued to sing in college and what factors influenced their decision to sing. The researcher began by discussing previous research in this area. Earlier research found thatparental influences were a very strong factor in why a student continued to sing at the college level. Studentswho had musical parents or were supportive of their musical activities tended to continue in choral music. Asecond factor was a students view on how hard they needed to work to be successful in a given activity. If thestudent felt that the time and effort it took to be a successful was satisfying they were more likely to continuetheir pursuit of music. In addition self-concept and how a student viewed their own musical talents was alsoimportant. Finally, the researcher looked at Tinto’s model for students continuing in music including suchfactors as background characteristics, external and internal influences, and the perception of the student aboutwhat college life is like.

The researcher then developed six hypotheses to study and then developed a questionnaire for studentsthat included both multiple choice questions and open-ended questions for them to answer. The researchersurveyed over 150 students at a southern university that included about 100 women and 50 men. The resultsvalidated many of her hypotheses including parental support, self-concept of musical ability and the student’sattitude about the value of music.

The researcher then concluded her article with a discussion of her results. The researcher found that howmuch the student valued music in their life was a probably the strongest predictor of continued participation inchoral music. Another finding she made was that while musical experience did not have a significant impact,students raised in a household with a positive musical attitude did influence a student’s decision. She alsoconcluded that more research was needed in the area of motivation to find better ways to recruit students intocontinuing with music.

REFLECTIONWhile this article dealt specifically with college students, the researcher does not believe that the reasons

high school students sing are very different from the reasons that college students sing. He has found thatstudents who come from supportive environments tend to stay in my program longer than students who comefrom environments that are less supportive. In addition, how students view themselves and their own talents isalso an important factor in their staying in my program. Most kids quit because they feel they either have littleor talent in music, or they feel that they cannot achieve the highest levels of my program and look elsewherefor an activity to satisfy their need for success. Finally, the researcher feels this article helps to focus on whatto ask students about what it is that keeps them in the program and how to go about that task.

Sichivitsa, V. O. (2003). College choir members’ motivation to persist in music: Application of the Tinto model. Journal of Research in Music Education, 51(4), 330-341.


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The fourth article reviewed for this project was titled “Increasing Middle School and High School inChoral Groups by Developing a Revised Curriculum through Cooperative Group Process” by DavidWeintraub. This dissertation, found in the ERIC database, is a rather lengthy work (164 pages) about a projectto increase enrollment, that was supervised by the author, in the Lakewood Public Schools in Lakewood, NewJersey. With the cooperation of the district and the choral music teachers in Lakewood, the author worked toestablish a group process with the teachers of the district to increase the enrollment in the vocal musicprograms. As a byproduct of this process they also worked to revised the curriculum that was used and workedto maintain high standards of performance while trying to attract students.

The researcher hypothesized that teachers need to go out and recruit students, rather than wait for the newschool to see if any students had joined the program. He emphasized the need for recruiting boys as a wayto attract more girls, advertising the program, and encouraged teachers to find ways to instill pride into theprogram. The curriculum was looked at by the researcher and the teachers to see if revision of educationalgoals could possibly bring in more students.

In the end the researcher felt that there was some success and developed a plan for increasing enrollmentIn the district vocal music program. Another benefit was the cooperation among the vocal music teachers at thedifferent grade level, including elementary in working together to increase enrollment and to look at thecurriculum and revise it if needed. Among the revision discussed were adding sight-singing to the secondarycurriculum, as well as emphasizing musical symbology.

RELFECTIONWhile this article was long and extremely detailed, it did show the need for cooperation in an articulation

area (high school and it’s feeder schools) in order to have a chance at successfully increasing enrollmentPerformances at feeder schools and developing cooperation among those schools has always helped theColumbine area to attract students. The author also made an excellent point that teachers need to the dirty workand actually recruit students because while you always get students who enjoy music, there are always those students who never thought about singing or thought that they could sing, walking the halls. All they need issomeone to say something to them.

Weintraub, D. (1992). Increasing middle school and high school enrollment in choral groups by developing a revised curriculum through cooperative group process. Ft. Lauderdale, FL: Nova Southeastern University. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED356155)


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The final article reviewed is titled “Where Do We Go From Here?” by Brian Chung published in theAmerican Music Teacher. This article is actually a transcription of a speech the author gave at a musicconvention, and is his topic is about attracting more students to take music and, in his words, to “make musicmakers”. His concern begins with a statistic that states there are fewer young people under the age of 35playing music, whether in groups or on their own, than ever before. While Mr. Chung implies that sports is inlarge part responsible for this drop in interest, he tell his audience that they, the music teachers have to be theones who go out and attract new students.

Mr. Chung gives several suggestions that center around fun. He believes that the fun in playing andperforming music must be both real and perceived. Teachers must find a way to make what they are doing funfor their students and they must also find ways of making what they do look fun to people in the outside inorder to attract new students. He emphasizes that perception can be stronger than reality, and by fostering apositive aura around a music program can go a long way towards recruitment of students to a program.Another area that Mr. Chung feels needs to exploited is in the area of technology. Teachers need to takeadvantage of what is out there in terms of computers, sequencing, MIDI, and so on. Students understand andrelate to new technology and teachers should use that to their advantage. Finally, Mr. Chung’s last suggestionto teachers is to value participation as much as performance. Too many teachers want a lot of students as longas they are good, and the author feel this is a mistake and a reason why participation is down. He believes it is important to accept students at whatever level they are at and try to actually teach them how to play or sing.

RELFECTIONMr. Chung’s audience leaned towards private music teachers such as piano and voice teachers. However

His suggestions are valuable to the school music teacher as well. Fun is important, and it may be as important as actually delivering information because if a student is not interested even the best teacher will haveDifficulty. The researcher especially believes that Mr. Chung’s statements about participation are as true asanything that he said. The program at Columbine will anybody and work to make them into a competent singerand the researcher strongly believes anybody can sing and should be given the opportunity.

Chung, B. (2002). Where do we go from here? [Electronic version] The American Music Teacher, 51(6), 25-29


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The following is the hypothesis and research question to be used a the basis for this study.

HYPOTHESIS

The students of the Columbine High School vocal music program have a number of ideas for recruiting more students for the vocal music program at Columbine.

QUESTION

What can we do to increase the numbers of students participating in the vocal music program?

THE INTERVENTIONThe researcher felt that it was in the best interest of the vocal music program to find methods to attract students to the program. By using surveys the researcher hopes to find new ideas for recruiting students from the students presently in the program. The researcher strongly believes that the students who are presently in the program, and especially those who have been a part of the program for several years, are best salespeople of the program and should be tapped for new ideas.

The following two slides are the Graphic Reconstructions employed by the researcher.


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THE PROBLEM

The Problem: Declining enrollment in the music department.

WHY?

Declining school enrollment

Competition from other electives coursesHow do attract more students in spite of these obstacles?

Students are becoming limited in the number of classes they can take

Requirements by the state and higher education forcing students to make choices in their choice of courses

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POSSIBLE SOLUTION

1) Have choir students sell the program:

Have them tell others what it means to them.

Get recruiting ideas from our students.

2) Sell the program to the student body

Continue talking to kids in the halls and at lunch.

Also talk to kids who quit about why they left the program.

3) Keep working on the quality of performance.

Continue performances at the elementary schools

People naturally want to be a part of something that is excellent in quality.

Start performing at the Middle School

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Collecting the DataThe researcher will use three surveys to collect the data. The first, and largest, of the three surveys was given

to every student in the vocal music department at Columbine High School that attended school on Friday, November 10, 2004. The survey had 10 questions with eight closed-ended multiple choice questions and two open-ended questions. It also included a place for grade and gender.

The closed-ended multiple choice questions were as follows:

1) How many semesters have you participated in the vocal music program at Columbine?

2) What grade were you in when you joined the choir program?

3) What do you enjoy the most about choir?

4) What do you enjoy the least about choir?

5) Choir is my favorite class

6) Choir is my least favorite class:

7) Why do you think people quit the choir program?

8) Why did you join the choir program?

The Open-ended questions were:

9) What ideas do you have to attract more students to the choir program?

10) How can we improve the choir program at Columbine High School?

The second survey, that will be distributed at the beginning of next semester, will be for new students inquiring as to what it was that attracted them to the program. This survey will be short with no more than five questions.

Third survey will be for vocal music teachers in the Jefferson County Public schools asking them the size of their program, relative to the overall enrollment of their school, and what techniques they use to recruit students.

The following slide contains the triangulation matrix that was used for this project.


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Triangulation Matrix

Research Question Data Source #1 Data Source #2 Data Source #3

What can we do to increase the numbers of students participation in our vocal music program?

Student survey given to all students presently in the program.

Short questionnaire given to new students we recruited about their views on why they joined the program.

Short questionnaire given to choral directors in the district about recruiting techniques they have found useful.

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Data Analysis and ReportThe next six slides show the results of the student survey and the researcher’s analysis/report on the data.

Grade and Gender:

At the beginning of the survey students were asked to give their grade and gender. Names were not asked for. Traditionally the senior class tends to have the most students while freshman class is usually the smallest and these numbers bear this out. In addition, females outnumber males anywhere from 2-1 to 4-1, depending on the class.

Grade/Gender

12/Female – 42 Total Seniors – 62

12/Male – 20 Total Juniors – 58

11/Female – 41 Total Sophomores – 43

11/Male – 15 Total Freshman – 34

10/Female – 33 Total Respondents – 197 (Out of about 225 students

10/Male – 10 that are enrolled in the program, not including

09/Female – 26 students that are taking more than one class)

09/Male – 7 Total Females – 142

Other – 11/Unknown – 2 Total Males – 52

09/Unknown – 1 Unknown Gender – 3


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Data Analysis and Report

1) How many semesters have you participated in the vocal music program at Columbine?

12/Female: 1 Sem – 1 3 Sem – 1 4 Sem – 1 5 Sem – 6 6 Sem – 2 7 Sem – 31

12/Male: 1 Sem – 1 2 Sem – 1 3 Sem – 4 5 Sem – 2 6 Sem – 2 7 Sem – 10

11/Female: 1 Sem – 3 2 Sem – 3 3 Sem – 12 4 Sem – 3 5 Sem – 20

11/Male: 1 Sem – 5 2 Sem – 0 3 Sem – 4 4 Sem – 2 5 Sem – 4

10/Female: 1 Sem – 7 2 Sem – 1 3 Sem – 25

10/Male: 1 Sem – 1 2 Sem – 0 3 Sem – 9

09/Female: 1 Sem – 26

09/Male: 1 Sem – 7

Unknown: 1 Sem – 2

Sem = Semester

2) What grade were you in when you joined the choir program?

12/Female: 9 – 35 10 – 5 11 – 1 12 – 1

12/Male: 9 – 11 10 – 3 11 – 5 12 – 1

11/Female: 9 – 24 10 – 14 11 – 3

11/Male: 9 – 6 10 – 4 11 – 5

10/Female: 9 – 27 10 – 6

10/Male: 9 – 9 10 – 1

09/Female: 9 – 26

09/Male: 9 – 7

Unknown: 9 – 2 10 – 0 11 – 1 12 – 0

The students that make up the core of the program have been in the program since the 9 th grade. For example, out of 42 female seniors, 31 or 73%, had been in the program since the 9 th grade; Out of 20 male seniors, 10 or 50%, had been in the program for 7 semesters. While senior class, the largest class at Columbine had the most students in the program as 9th graders during their first semester, the present 9th grade class is only somewhat smaller in their first semester in the program (5 fewer girls and 3 fewer boys).


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3) What do you enjoy the most about choir?

A) I love music and/or singing 52/197 26%

B) The performances (concerts, musical, gigs, etc.) 11/197 06%

C) I like being with my friends 12/197 07%

D) Everything 133/197 67%

E) Other 12/197 06%

4) What do you enjoy the least about choir?

A) Rehearsals 10/197 05%

B) Performances 11/197 06%

C) Music selection 60/197 30%

D) Nothing 72/197 37%

E) Other 48/192 24%

Questions 3 and 4 inquired about general satisfaction among the students in the vocal music program . Generally students seem to enjoy what they do in the program. A majority of student enjoy everything about the program with the love of singing as the second strongest choice. As far as what they enjoy the least, the younger students tend to like the music selection less than the older students which could be due in part a more mature sense of taste in literature.

A note: Some students answered some questions with more than one response, therefore some of the percentages added up to more than 100%


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Data Analysis and Report5) Choir is my favorite class:

Strongly Disagree 5/197 03%

Disagree 3/197 02%

Neutral 37/197 18%

Agree 72/197 37%

Strongly Agree 80/197 40%

6) Choir is my least favorite class:

Strongly Disagree 135/197 68%

Disagree 46/197 23%

Neutral 12/197 06%

Agree 1/197 01%

Strongly Agree 3/197 02%

Choir is clearly an important class to a large percentage of the students that take vocal music at Columbine High School. 77% of those that took the survey either answered agree or strongly agree that choir is their favorite class. Conversely, 91% answered disagree or strongly disagree to the statement that choir was their least favorite class. Only 4 students, or 3% of the total respondents, felt that choir was their least favorite class, and only 8 students, or 5% of the total respondents disagreed that choir was their favorite class. Overall this again shows great satisfaction among those students who are presently taking choir at Columbine.


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Data Analysis and Report7) Why do you think people quit the choir program? (Circle all that apply) ***

A) They had to make a choice 125/197 63%

B) They felt they did not have the talent to succeed 140/197 20%

C) The choice of music 9/197 05%

D) They did not feel they were treated fairly 10/197 05%

E) Other 32/197 16%

8) Why did you join the choir program? (Circle all that apply) ***

A) I love music and/or I love to sing 159/197 81%

B) My friends talked me into it 19/197 10%

C) My parents talked me into it 24/197 12%

D) My counselor talked me into it 4/197 02%

E) Mr. Andres or Mr. Marsh talked me into it 24/197 10%

F) I wanted to be a part of a quality program 76/197 39%

G) Other 33/197 17%

*** Percentages will add up to more than 100%

It would appear that the primary reason students leave the program is because of choice in courses. This was especially true this last year when Columbine reduced its day from 8 period day and to 7 period day, and staffing was reduced at Columbine by four teachers. Losing four teachers is equivalent to losing 20 sections (five sections per teacher). Subsequently the depart lost a number of students due to the fact that they had to make a choice between electives. Additionally, those choices have been compounded by the added requirements mandated for college entrance into Colorado colleges and Universities by the Colorado Higher Education Commission. The second highest answer was the feeling that those student who did quit felt like they did not have the talent to succeed in the program.

Most students joined the program at Columbine because they love music or love to sing, while many also wanted to be a part of a quality program. Additionally 10% of respondents were recruited either by a friend or one of the two vocal music teachers.


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Data Analysis and ReportThe following is a sampling of responses to questions 9 and 10.

9) What ideas do you have to attract more students to the choir program?

•Announcements on RNN. (Interviews)

•Posters and informational meetings.

•More opportunities for people to come see choir perform.

•More contests.

•Students promote.

•On days of registration perform for students so that they can see/ learn more of choir.

•Sing in underclassman classes.

•Perform during lunches.

•Tell people no experience needed.

•Advertise try-outs.

•Gigs at feeder middle schools, not just elementary

10) How can we improve the choir program at Columbine High School?

•Different music. (Especially ensembles) More modern. More challenging.

•New robes.

•New musicals instead of ones cycled through.

•Eliminate “easy A” people who don’t really want to be here/ like to sing.

•More concerts/ performances out of school.

•Assign levels based on talent not grade

Interestingly, some of the suggestion are already common practice by the researcher and his colleague, especially about advertising try-outs. There are however useful ideas that need to be considered, especially about doing more performances around registration and try out time.


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The results and analysis of the New Student Survey will be placed here.

The results and analysis of the Jefferson County Vocal Music Teachers survey will be placed here.


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Validity and Reliability The researcher believes the information is both valid and reliable for three reasons. The first is the students of the vocal music program answered the vast majority of the questions. The people who sing and participate in the vocal music program are most likely to be the people with the necessary insight into gaining new students, like themselves. The second is that the surveys were checked by three different people: the researcher and two student assistants. Between these three individuals all numbers were checked three different times. The final check on validity and reliability is due to the use of triangulation of information. Once the New Student survey and the District Vocal Music Teacher survey are completed the researcher should have a number of ideas about recruiting new students to a vocal music program.

Skewing Factors The researcher feels that there are two potential skewing factors in the study, and both are external. The first factor is history. The survey was given to all of the students in the vocal music department the week of tryouts for the annual musical. In fact, it was given on the day (a Friday) that results were going to be posted when most kids would have had a relatively optimistic attitude, even though they might very well have been nervous and somewhat stressed. The researcher purposefully avoided giving the survey the following Monday because he knew this would have had a somewhat negative effect on some of the student's responses. The second skewing factor was maturation. Freshman will have a different,if not naive, outlook about the program, while the Seniors would tend to be more realistic, if not jaded.


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The Action Plan The researcher hopes to take the final data and create a protocol for recruiting students. The project is not yet finished and the results of the New Students survey and the District Vocal Music Teacher survey will factor into that protocol. Initially the researcher had hoped to finish the project before the end of the semester, but new students will come during the registration period in January for the second semester and schedules can change, therefore it is better to wait a while longer for more accurate results. In addition, it is always difficult to get teachers from other schools to respond in a timely fashion to surveys due to individual factors, such as responsibilities and concerts. It is also better to give those individuals more time to reply to the inquiry in order to get as many responses as possible.

The next possible step may be to survey students who have quit the program, no matter how difficult their answers might be for the researcher to read. These answers could reveal invaluable information in terms of gaining and retaining new students.


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The Reflection

The researcher found this project to be very beneficial to the vocal music program at Columbine High School and looks forward to receiving the results of the other two surveys. The fact that most students who take vocal music at Columbine enjoy the classes they take, and are apparently proud of being a part of the program, is a great relief to the researcher. The researcher now believes that recruiting at the middle school level may be the most critical element. Since a majority of students, the core of seniors, begin the program as freshmen, it is imperative that the program recruits heavily at the middle school during the 8 th grade registration period. While this is considered crucial, recruiting once students are at Columbine is also considered crucial. The researcher will continue to look for new ways to attract students to the vocal music program at Columbine High School.


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References

Chung, B. (2002). Where do we go from here? [Electronic version] The American Music Teacher, 51(6), 25-29

Peterson, C. W. (2002). Recruiting for the choral ensemble by emphasizing skill and effort. [Electronic version] Music Educators Journal, 89, 32-35.

Phillips, K. H. (1995). Recruiting and retaining males. [Electronic version] Teaching Music, 2, 28 – 19.

Sichivitsa, V. O. (2003). College choir members’ motivation to persist in music: Application of the Tinto model. Journal of Research in Music Education, 51(4), 330-341.

Weintraub, D. (1992). Increasing middle school and high school enrollment in choral groups by developing a revised curriculum through cooperative group process. Ft. Lauderdale, FL: Nova Southeastern University. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED356155)