Keys to learning : developing a culturally sustainable music curriculum for Cassadaga job corps

Abstract

Students from minority demographics are often denied the opportunity to participate in music instruction for a wide variety of reasons relating to inequitable access to arts programming for students attending underfunded schools in low socioeconomic areas. If minority students are granted access to music programming, the curricula available are frequently incongruent with students' cultural backgrounds and personal identities. In response to this problem, a culturally sustainable curriculum was developed to meet the needs, interests, cultural identities, resources, and prior knowledge of students at a Job Corps center in Cassadaga, NY. Armed with research regarding music's impact on cognitive, affective, and social development, as well as best practices in culturally sustainable pedagogy, the curriculum developer embarked on the creation of a music program that lead students through the four creative processes as defined by the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS): connecting, creating, performing, and responding. A student-centered curriculum, Keys to Learning was designed with flexibility; emphasizing higher order inquiry, and practices in critical thinking skills as the pedagogical fulcrum of the four creative processes. With few extraneous resources, students told their stories through the medium of original song composition; the visceral authenticity and unprecedented innovation exhibited in these works validates the profound benefit of such a curriculum for students from all backgrounds. This curriculum is aligned with the Job Corps Career Success Standards (2016) as well as the twelve Anchor Standards from the National Council for Core Arts Standards (SEADAE, 2016). [from author's abstract]