January 2024 MBR The Education Shelf

The Education Shelf

Sustaining Music Education in K-3 Programs
Ivone Fraiha Clark
Dorrance Publishing Company
www.dorrancepublishing.com
9781637642795, $15.00, PB, 134pp

https://www.amazon.com/Sustaining-Music-Education-K-3-Programs/dp/1637642792

Synopsis: Public school administrators and teachers who provide music in elementary programs are often confronted with budgetary costs and reduced funding for music education. There is a dearth of research regarding music as an essential element in early education in low-income rural areas.

Thus, the purpose of the inquiry presented in "Sustaining Music Education in K-3 Programs: A Research in a Low-Income Rural Area" by Ivone Fraiha Clark is to explore and describe leadership practices of principals who, despite the final challenges, include and sustain music in the K-3 curriculum.

This seminal study was conducted in a small county southeast of the United States. The findings may encourage educational leaders to find ways to sustain music education from early childhood as an opportunity for enhanced education in the hopes of future citizens engaged with a more equitable society.

Critique: Of special and particular interest to school administrators, teachers, school board members, education advocates, parents, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in supporting music education as a part of elementary level school curriculums, "Sustaining Music Education in K-3 Programs: A Research in a Low-Income Rural Area" is a critically important addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library Music Education Curriculum collections and curriculum studies lists.

Editorial Note: Ivone Fraiha Clark Ph.D. is a musician and mother of three. She is a US citizen by marriage and Brazilian by birth. In Brazil, she worked for more than 30 years between the stage and teaching. To encourage excellence in music, she has created choirs. She has an informative website at https://wncmusicacademy.com/ivone-fraiha-clark

Creating a Campus-Wide Culture of Student Success
Ronald E. Hallett, et al.
Routledge
www.routledge.com
9781032581286, $170.00, HC, 242pp

https://www.amazon.com/Creating-Campus-Wide-Culture-Student-Success/dp/103258128X

Synopsis: Offering a new approach to institutional practices, "Creating a Campus-Wide Culture of Student Success" by the team academicians Ronald E. Hallett, Adrianna Kezar, Joseph A. Kitchen, and Rosemary J. Perez describes evidence-based strategies to create a campus culture conducive to truly supporting all students.

We are at a critical crossroads in higher education, where large numbers of low-income, racially minoritized, and first-generation college students (referred to in "Creating a Campus-Wide Culture of Student Success" as "at-promise students") are attending college in greater numbers than ever, yet access has not translated to significantly improved retention and graduation rates.

"Creating a Campus-Wide Culture of Student Success" therefore, proposes a realignment of existing initiatives to create campus-wide support through a new model of coordination.

The ideas presented in "Creating a Campus-Wide Culture of Student Success" are the culmination of one of the largest studies of comprehensive college support programs for at-promise students. Chapters include illustrations of the key concepts and promising practices of the Promoting At-promise Student Success (PASS) Project, as well as guiding questions that can be used to facilitate conversations on campus. In this helpful resource, the four co-authors address how student supports are delivered in validating ways, rather than focusing solely on what supports are offered, as has typically been the way institutions address the issues that at-promise students face.

"Creating a Campus-Wide Culture of Student Success" is primarily intended to provide guidance and support to educators who want to be a part of changing how higher education supports at-promise students toward increased equity.

Critique: A solidly researched, exceptionally well written, impressively organized, and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in presentation, "Creating a Campus-Wide Culture of Student Success" will prove to be of particular value to readers with an interest in Higher Education and Continuing Education curriculum development and student support. While especially and unreservedly recommended as a core acquisition for college and university library Contemporary Education Studies collections, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, higher education and student support oriented curriculum developers, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Creating a Campus-Wide Culture of Student Success" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781032581514, $42.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $40.80).

Editorial Note #1: Ronald E. Hallett is a lead research associate at the Pullias Center for Higher Education in the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California and a Professor of Education in the LaFetra College of Education at the University of La Verne, USA.

Editorial Note #2: Adrianna Kezar is Dean's Professor of Leadership, Wilbur-Kieffer Professor of Higher Education, at the University of Southern California, USA, and Director of the Pullias Center for Higher Education within the Rossier School of Education.

Editorial Note #3: Joseph A. Kitchen is an Associate Research Professor in the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California, USA.

Editorial Note #4: Rosemary J. Perez is an Associate Professor in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan, USA.

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