STUDY METHOD

The authors studied the 1995 results of the Ohio Proficiency Test (OPT) given to fourth-grade students in Hamilton, Ohio. To make the comparison between string and non-string students as fair as possible, the researchers looked at students' scores on a previous standardized test, the Cognitive Abilities Test, or COGAT. Each of the 148 fourth-grade string students was matched to a non-stringstudent who achieved the same verbal score on the COGAT. This made a total of 296 students whose scores on the Ohio Proficiency Test were analyzed, and the academic abilities of the non-string students selected for the study matched the academic abilities of the string students as closely as possible.

RESULTS

Listed below are the mean (average) Ohio Proficiency Test scores for the students in this study:

WRITING

String Students: 5.05

Non-String Students: 4.85

READING

String Students: 229.5

Non-String Students: 223.2

MATHEMATICS

String Students: 214.8

Non-String Students: 211.8

 

CITIZENSHIP

String Students: 231.3

Non-String Students: 224.8

 

 Listed below are the percentages of students in this study achieving test scores at or above standard performance. The standard for the 1995 Ohio Proficiency Test is 4.0 in reading and 200 in all other areas.

 

WRITING

String students: 85%

Non-string students: 85%

 

READING

String students: 89%

Non-string students: 87%

 

MATHEMATICS

String students: 76%

Non-string students: 65%

 

CITIZENSHIP

String students: 93%

Non-string students: 87%

 

AT STANDARD ON ALL SECTIONS OF THE TEST

String students: 68%

Non-string students: 58%

 

CONCLUSIONS

From the results of this study we can conclude that the string students did not suffer negative academic effects when compared to students of similar academic capability who remained in the classroom. We can also conclude that the overall Ohio Proficiency Test performance of the students who participated in string pull-out lessons was better than the performance of the students of similar ability who did not participate in the string program.

 

The results of this study seem to indicate that students who study instruments in a small-group or individual setting actually improve their academic abilities, however this study was not designed to document improvement, and further study is needed before drawing this conclusion.

 

The author of the Ohio report offers this analysis of what takes place during pull-out string instruction:

"When string students are excused from their classrooms for string class, they are not leaving instruction. They are moving to another classroom in a different area of the building. The concepts taught in string [lessons] go far beyond pitch and rhythm. For example, a student must understand fractions and their relationships to each other in order to manipulate rhythm. The student who has trouble understanding the abstract concept that a half is twice one quarter may comprehend the concrete example of his or her bow moving twice as far on half notes as quarter notes. The musician reads abstract concepts from the page and then translates them into concrete phenomena that involve time and space."