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This study investigates degree perseverance among African Americans who transitioned from an undergraduate music program at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) to a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). A framework based on Bourdieu’s cultural capital theory and Yosso’s community cultural wealth theory was employed to examine how academic, cultural,

This study investigates degree perseverance among African Americans who transitioned from an undergraduate music program at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) to a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). A framework based on Bourdieu’s cultural capital theory and Yosso’s community cultural wealth theory was employed to examine how academic, cultural, and social aspects of participants’ undergraduate and graduate school experiences influenced their perseverance. Because those aspects are intricately intertwined with race, I also employed critical race theory and double consciousness theory, and used Angela Duckworth’s Grit Scale to measure degree perseverance.

Eight African American male instrumental music educators participated in this study. Research questions included: What are the experiences of African Americans who have transitioned from undergraduate music programs at HBCUs to graduate music programs at PWIs?; How do these individuals compare academic, social, and cultural aspects of their experiences within two institutional environments?; What are their self-perceptions of their own degree perseverance?; and, What social, cultural, and academic aspects of their experiences influenced their perseverance?

After developing a portrait of each participant’s pre-college and college experiences, analysis reveled that participants were very persistent; however, academic, cultural, social, and racial experiences influenced their perseverance. Participants employed dominant cultural capital and community cultural wealth as well as their “Grittiness” to successfully transition from an HBCU to a PWI.

Recommendations for HBCUs, PWIs, and the profession are offered toward improving the experiences of African American music students in higher education. HBCUs must hold their faculty and students accountable for developing a broader musical experience beyond marching band, and address colorism on their campuses. PWIs should recognize and accept the capital that African Americans bring, acknowledge that African Americans need access to social support networks, and assess how their environments, actions, and decisions may devalue or discount African Americans. While more research is needed regarding the experiences of African Americans in music programs, African American students must also take active roles in shaping their own educational experiences by seeking assistance that will improve their experiences.
ContributorsMcCall, Joyce Marie (Author) / Schmidt, Margaret E (Thesis advisor) / Oldani, Robert (Committee member) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Stauffer, Sandra (Committee member) / Sullivan, Jill (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
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The purpose of this study was to explore Chinese preservice music teachers’music teacher role-identity. McCall and Simmons’ (1978) theory of identities and interactions served as the theoretical framework. Three research questions guided this study: How do Chinese preservice music teachers describe their music teacher role- identity, specifically, their imagined character

The purpose of this study was to explore Chinese preservice music teachers’music teacher role-identity. McCall and Simmons’ (1978) theory of identities and interactions served as the theoretical framework. Three research questions guided this study: How do Chinese preservice music teachers describe their music teacher role- identity, specifically, their imagined character and role as an occupant of a music teacher position? How do Chinese preservice music teachers construct their music teacher role- identity through secondary socialization? Where do Chinese preservice music teachers place their music teacher role-identity in their prominence and salience hierarchies? Twenty-five preservice music teachers from two conservatories in China participated; all had more than six months of teaching experience. Data were collected through focus groups and semi-structured individual interviews. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Findings revealed that each of the 25 Chinese preservice teachers constructed a music teacher role-identity as the occupant of an either group or private music teacher position. These preservice teachers’ imaginative views of self-as-teacher contained shared characters, including being respectful, responsible, and fair, and also shared roles, including acting professionally in music and in teaching. Each preservice teacher appeared to be an active agent, bringing their own idiosyncratic understandings to the characters and roles of specific music teacher positions, making them unique teachers. These preservice teachers constructed their music teacher role-identities through cognitive role-taking and role improvisation, and expressive role enactment and negotiations with important audiences. They consistently balanced the content of their music teacher role-identity, negotiating which characters and roles were and were not negotiable, to balance their own and others’ needs. While each preservice teacher constructed their own music teacher role-identity, not all considered it prominent. Only those who obtained desired rewards, particularly self-support and intrinsic rewards, from enacting their music teacher role-identity placed it higher in the prominence hierarchy of their identity-set. Findings suggested preservice teachers’ salient role-identities were not fixed, but changed, depending on their own interpretations of the situation, of themselves within the situation, and of the opportunities to obtain desired rewards from the situation. Implications for music teacher education policy and practice in China are discussed.
ContributorsLong, Chengcheng (Author) / Schmidt, Margaret (Thesis advisor) / Stauffer, Sandra (Committee member) / Sullivan, Jill (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
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The purpose of this sequential explanatory mixed-methods study was to explore Chinese music teachers' concerns that arise from classroom practice in their first six years of teaching using the three-stage model of teacher concerns development proposed by Fuller and Bown (1975). Research questions focused on teachers' concerns, concerns patterns, the

The purpose of this sequential explanatory mixed-methods study was to explore Chinese music teachers' concerns that arise from classroom practice in their first six years of teaching using the three-stage model of teacher concerns development proposed by Fuller and Bown (1975). Research questions focused on teachers' concerns, concerns patterns, the shift of concerns patterns, and influences associated with concerns shifts. This study started with quantitative data collection using a survey based on Campbell and Thompson's (2007) Teacher Concerns Checklist to collect data from Chinese beginning music teachers working in Zhejiang Province (N = 316). The qualitative data were generated from semi-structured individual interviews with 12 participants purposefully selected from survey participants. The quantitative and qualitative results revealed that Chinese beginning music teachers' self, task, and student impact concerns exist and progress simultaneously. Their self and task concerns decreased as their teaching experience increased. These beginning music teachers' student impact concerns remained relatively unchanged at a high level in their first six years of teaching. Qualitative data revealed a new potential category of concerns: work environment concerns, including supportive school policies and interpersonal relationships in the workplace. Qualitative data also suggested that teachers' self concerns and student impact concerns may consist of two levels. Self concerns included self-survival concerns and self-improvement concerns, and student impact concerns included awareness of student impact concerns and having ideas for dealing with these concerns. The results of this study showed that some of the teachers' concerns were context-specific. These kinds of concerns may have been influenced by factors other than years of teaching experience, such as teaching circumstances, cultural context, and the teacher evaluation system, which also seemed to influence teachers' particular concerns. Based on these findings, a new model of the progression of teacher concerns was proposed. The findings of this study provide information for teacher educators, mentors, and school administrators to develop professional development programs and school policies that may help beginning music teachers relieve their anxieties and prepare them to be successful in the early years of teaching.
ContributorsLe, Xinyue (Author) / Schmidt, Margaret (Thesis advisor) / Stauffer, Sandra (Thesis advisor) / Sullivan, Jill (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021