Research Action Topic

I plan to conduct research in order to define a preparation plan for secondary students who desire to pursue a Performance (music, dance, theater, visual art) Degree in college in order to become professional musicians or stage performers. These students are required to audition not only for college scholarship opportunities but also for admission into these programs of study, so they must be prepared as incoming freshmen to audition before any college training has occurred. Our high school has been able to provide only “hit or miss” help for these students in recent years and the competition at the colleges is very strong, making it very difficult for an entering student to gain acceptance without a well-planned high school preparation experience.


I intend to contact the most prestigious area colleges (UNT, SMU, Texas Tech, Oklahoma City U, Baylor, UT, TCU) in order to discover their audition and admission requirements and expectations. This information is not always clearly defined in written form, but will come from conversations with the campus leaders. Even though many of our students will audition out of state, their chances in other states are often better than here in Texas because Texas has exceptionally strong high school music programs.

Then, I will research the best strategies for improving the chances of admission for our talented students, and for improving the chances of admission for our students with less natural talent but super work ethic. In addition, I will research studies which show the long-term failure/success rates for students in these fields to determine what kind of “back-up” plan these young people should also prepare while in college so they have a career path in the event the performance route doesn’t happen for them.

After I get answers from the first three areas of research, I will interview our campus Fine and Performing Arts staff, our Counselors, and our Principals to get their recommendations in terms of the best classes we can offer for these students while in high school. Using this information, I will write a recommended coursework and activity four-year plan (including performances, recitals, extra-curricular competitions, etc.) to best prepare these students for success.

It is highly likely we will discover that our students will need additional electives and training either not currently offered, or which will mean “more” classes than the students can get and stay within the current graduation requirements. If that is the case, I will recommend ways to achieve these goals by looking into some “creative” ways to provide the needed coursework. McKinney ISD is currently offering some very creative ways to make more courses available for high school students without their having to take summer school every year and should provide at least one resource for this question.