Date
6-17-2026
Department
School of Music
Degree
Doctor of Music Education (DME)
Chair
Michelle Swanson
Keywords
Music education, elementary music, students with disabilities, instruction, training, adaptation
Disciplines
Music | Special Education and Teaching
Recommended Citation
Schafer, Dawn Marie, "Recommendations for Advancing Elementary Music Education for Students with Disabilities in Skyline Ridge School District" (2026). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 8587.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/8587
Abstract
The purpose of this applied research study was to provide recommendations to advance music instruction to students with disabilities at sixteen elementary schools in the Skyline Ridge School District (SRSD). The problem was that there was evidence of low musicianship and music participation in students with disabilities in the middle schools in SRSD. The rationale for this study was that students with disabilities may be capable of achieving musicianship as well as any other student. For this reason, music educators must be prepared to set them up for success. The central research question was: How can the elementary music teachers in the Skyline Ridge School District advance their music instruction among students with disabilities? Three data collection methods were used to collect data including an anonymous survey, interviews, and a single focus group. All data were analyzed by identifying codes and themes. Recommendations to address the problem included ongoing intensive inclusion training, inclusion briefings at the school level, establishment of a digital adaptation library, creating shared adaptation toolkits, and advocating for improvement in pre-service teacher training curricula.
