Robertson reported his findings from his dissertation, The Effect of the Kodaly Rhythm Reading Approach on Auditory, Visual, and Kinesthetic Learners in Grades Three through Five, and a current study, Music Teacher Evaluation in the United States, which was co-authored with Dr. Brad Green, Tattnall County School District; Dr. Lucy S. Green, Georgia Southern University; and Panne Burke, Georgia Southern University.
The purpose of his dissertation was to investigate the extent to which the Kodaly method meets the needs of identified auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners in third, fourth, and fifth grades. The study concluded that the Kodaly method enables students to succeed regardless of their preferred learning style, and that instruction favoring specific learning styles does not have a direct effect on music achievement. Currently Robertson, Green, Green and Burke are developing a national picture of the ways that K-12 music teachers are evaluated across the US. This qualitative content analysis will answer the following research question: What teacher evaluation instruments and models exist to evaluate K-12 music teacher performance in the United States and how do these instruments and models reflect NAfME teacher evaluation position statement recommendations? The prominence of student performance measures on standardized tests in teacher evaluation instruments has large reaching consequences for the evaluation and staffing of K-12 music teachers nationwide.
The purpose of his dissertation was to investigate the extent to which the Kodaly method meets the needs of identified auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners in third, fourth, and fifth grades. The study concluded that the Kodaly method enables students to succeed regardless of their preferred learning style, and that instruction favoring specific learning styles does not have a direct effect on music achievement. Currently Robertson, Green, Green and Burke are developing a national picture of the ways that K-12 music teachers are evaluated across the US. This qualitative content analysis will answer the following research question: What teacher evaluation instruments and models exist to evaluate K-12 music teacher performance in the United States and how do these instruments and models reflect NAfME teacher evaluation position statement recommendations? The prominence of student performance measures on standardized tests in teacher evaluation instruments has large reaching consequences for the evaluation and staffing of K-12 music teachers nationwide.
"It is important that a national picture of the evaluation instruments currently in place be developed so that the conversation music educators engage in is an informed conversation," says Robertson. "Continued research in this area is needed to inform both the practice of music education and the preparation of its professionals."