Kara Ireland D'Ambrosio

This dissertation examined the California Music Project Teacher Training Program, which was designed to address inequities of music education in high poverty schools, support music teachers so they remained in those schools, and encourage preservice music teachers to build personal and professional capacity for work in under-resourced school environments. I viewed CMP within a broader framework of income inequality that directly impacted children, families and neighborhoods, and through those mechanisms indirectly impacted school functions and educational attainment for children. In light of a body of research on interventions in poverty and income inequality designed to stabilize school operations and thus improve children's educational attainment, I framed CMP as a similar intervention, designed to stabilize music programs and music teaching in the San Jose area. The San Jose site of CMP thus became the case of interest and I sought a broad cross-section of mentors and fellows...