Having an article published in a national journal is an accomplishment Paul Johns, Thomas County Central High School’s Assistant Band Director, can now add to his list of achievements.
Johns co-authored an article that was published in The Journal of Research in Music Education by the National Association for Music Education. Titled “The Development of a Secondary-Level Solo Wind Instrument Performance Rubric Using the Multifaceted Rasch Partial Credit Measurement Model,” the article is a study on the use of a rubric to grade middle and high school band members. The “Multifaceted Rasch Partial Credit Measurement Model” refers to the specific type of statistics used to develop the rubric.
“As of the present moment, there is really not a statistically and correctly developed rubric to assess the performance of secondary level wind players,” Johns said. “The National Association for Music Education is currently developing versatile rubrics based on the newly developed Core Music Standards that came out in 2014. This study went through the extensive, but correct process, to create a rubric that is valid and reliable.”
Johns, his professor Dr. Brian C. Wesolowski, and other students completed the study as part of a course during graduate school at the University of Georgia (UGA). The entire course was based around this article. The class participated in a “cohort” type of working group and went through an extensive process to create the rubric described in the article. At the end of the course, the class as a whole had written and contributed parts of the article.
“It was very interesting to work with a great group of music educators and to hear different philosophies and opinions on assessment in music education,” Johns said. “I was extremely proud to have worked with this outstanding group to further the field of music education. This journal is one of the premier journals in the field of music education. To have my name and our high school in the credits, potentially read by music educators from all over the world, is pretty incredible.”
Johns credits his UGA professor for helping shape him into the teacher he is today.
Johns said, “Dr. Wesolowski was an outstanding professor. Not only was he a great music educator, but his knowledge of assessment, statistics, and overall philosophy influenced me greatly. His class made me think about how the field of music education deals with assessment in a subject that many consider very subjective, and how I deal with assessment in my own classroom.”
Now in his fourth year with Thomas County Central High School, Johns is responsible for teaching the Jazz band, Blue band, and assisting with the marching and Gold bands.
“I’m looking forward to growing and learning more in the field of education and helping to improve and grow the TCCHS band program,” added Johns. “I hope to use the principles of assessment and evaluation in the journal article to improve my teaching.”