Our Research and Evaluation

Current Initiatives To be announced publicly in 2024

Past Publications: Highlights from prior history of Music-in-Education Research

1. The Premise Of Learning Through Music (2000) Scripp’s essay provides the foundation for conceiving music as "interdisciplinary cognition" and how it can support learning in other disciplines. Examples from Frank Lloyd Wright, Leonard Bernstein, for example, reveal that the philosophy of “learning in and through music” depends on two conditions (1) authentic musical training framed as the interaction of developing music literacy skills with the growing knowledge of musical literature and (2) the ability to reflect on how fundamental concepts and processes involved in musical study can be shared and connected with other disciplines.

2. An Overview Of Research On Music And Learning (2002) Scripp summarizes the research about the relationship between learning in music and learning in other areas, such as language and math. Findings from this research challenges the 21st century music-in-education teacher to understand how music functions both as a catalyst for cognitive skills and aspects of social-emotional, skills especially when conditions for interdisciplinary learning transfer are optimized through teaching to concepts, principles and processes shared between language, mathematics, music and social-emotional development.  Future directions in approaching interdisciplinary aspects of music skill development include reconceptualizing the inflexible mindset of one-way causality models toward evidence of two-way interactions (correlations) that validate the conception that music may positively impact learning in other areas at the same time learning in other areas can bolster musical development.

3. The Conservatory Lab Charter School-NEC Research Center 'Learning Through Music' Partnership (1999-2003) (2007) originally started by Scripp as director of  academic and Learning Through Music programs summarizes the partnership between the New England Conservatory Music-in-Education program and the Conservatory Lab Charter School, including innovations in music-in-education teaching and assessment methods and the analysis of student learning outcomes by the NEC’s Research Center for Learning Through Music that together represents the purpose and impact of putting music at the center of education policy.

4. Thinking Beyond The Myths And Misconceptions Of Talent: Creating Music Education Policy That Advances Music's Essential Contribution To Twenty-First-Century Teaching And Learning (2013) reviews the evidence on acquired expertise and human development to argue that significant skill in music is attainable by all and we should not be bound by outdated conceptions of "innate talent."

5. Embracing The Burden Of Proof: Evidence Of Causal Links Among Teacher Professional Development, Student Arts Learning And Student Academic Outcomes In Chicago Public Schools (2014) provides a model for linking teacher quality, multiple arts learning, and student academic achievement.

6. Assessing The Development, Integration, And Reflective Understanding Of Multiple Literacy Skills Shared Between Music, Math, Language, And The Arts (2016) reveals the evolution of assessment tools and research results for evaluating interdisciplinary learning in the arts.

7.  Music Plus Music Integration: A model for music education policy reform that reflects the evolution and success of arts integration practices in 21st century American public schools (2016) outlines a policy stance to get beyond the false dichotomy of "music for its own sake" vs. "music for the sake of learning in other disciplines".

8. Human Development Through Music (2019) outlines the philosophy and purposes of lifespan music learning that can begin from birth and then proceed to stages of early childhood, adolescence, middle age, and full maturity unified by social interaction and family legacy that can support life-long differentiated learning through music.

9. Developing Interdisciplinary Cognition-based Musical Literacy as a Foundation for Preschool Education Policy: A Program Evaluation of the MindChamps Music Intervention in Singapore Preschools (2023) details our program evaluation (treatment-control study) of private preschool students who received 2 years of music literacy vs. similar students who received traditional rote music instruction. The preschool music-in-education treatmen is now proven by Dr. Lawrence Scripp and his Colleagues to enable students to perform vastly better in musical literacy tests, and also performing substantially better in language and math tests, providing compelling evidence of mediation and far transfer to other subject areas. This “proof of concept” of early musical literacy in-education as an optimal form of “interdisciplinary cognition” achieved by a relatively small, yet highly controlled sample of private school children paves the way for international dissemination of cost-effective musical literacy-in-education programs for all children in public education, and especially for low-income families who will benefit the most from these early education intervention programs.