VanWeelden, K., & Whipple, J. (2005). Preservice teachers’ predictions, perceptions, and actual assessment of students with special needs in secondary general music . Journal of Music Therapy , 42 (3), 200–215. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmt/42.3.200

The purpose of the current study was to examine preservice teachers' predictions and perceptions of students with special needs' level of mastery of specific music education concepts and actual grades achieved by these students using alternative assessments and testing accommodations within two subpopulations: students with emotional and/or behavior disorders, and students with acute cognitive delays.

The participants (N=15) were undergraduate music education majors at a large university in the U.S. enrolled during the fall semester in a course titled "Assessment and Teaching Music: Secondary"; the participants were instructing middle school students in a field experience.

The dependent variable was a survey listing the 30 music concepts in the curriculum. Researchers and participants' observations of students and students' actual performance were also examined in relation to the survey responses.

Preservice teachers were able to execute testing accommodations and implement successful alternative assessments which gave empirical data on the students' level of mastery of the music education concepts within the curriculum. Also, there was no correlation between how the preservice teachers thought students would perform, how they thought the students performed, and how the students actually performed based on assessment data.