Effects of primary school principal support and teaching characteristics on students’ music academic achievement using a hierarchical linear model

Participants included 15,715 fourth graders, 1,309 music teachers, and 950 primary school principals in China. We used a hierarchical linear model (HLM) to estimate the influence of individual and school-level factors on students’ music academic achievement. Results showed that: (1) students’ background had a significant influence on their music academic achievement and the results remained stable throughout our study, (2) school location, music teacher’s major, and years of teaching positively predicted students’ music academic achievement, while school type and music teachers’ education level didn’t, (3) after controlling for the above, both principal support and music teaching characteristics positively predicted children’s music academic achievement; and soft environments had greater influence on their music academic achievement than hard environments did, and (4) of all the variables, music teachers’ teaching content was the best predictor. This study expanded our knowledge of school effectiveness, and the findings enhanced our understanding of the influence mechanism of students’ music learning.