Center for Learning in the Arts, Sciences and Sustainability

In recent years, as society’s expectations have evolved, institutions of higher education and their communities are coming to understand the levels at which they are interdependent. At the same time, many leaders in educational reform are realizing the need for systemic change across all levels of schooling. K-12 schools are turning to resources from outside agencies rather than relying solely on their districts for support. In an environment where colleges and universities are reevaluating their missions to include public service and where K-12 schools are searching for external assistance, both parties’ interests may be joined through the formation of school-university partnerships. The time is optimal for those in higher education to combine efforts with those in K-12 on reform issues throughout the educational pipeline, in collaborations that maximize resources as well as potential results. This paper reviews the need for school-university partnerships and introduces some common partnership models, concluding with the key characteristics that have been found to be necessary for their success.

In a naturalistic pre-post design, samples of saliva were collected from the members of a professional chorale during an early rehearsal (n=31), a late rehearsal (n=34) and a public performance (n=32) of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. As measures of immune system response, mean levels of secretory immunoglobulin A increased significantly, as a proportion of whole protein, 150% during rehearsals and 240% during the performance. Cortisol concentrations decreased significantly an average of 30% during rehearsals and increased 37% during performance. As measured through performance perception rating scales, a group of emotions and other experiential states that singers associated with professional singing were highly predictive of changes in level of secretory immunoglobulin A during the performance condition, but the results for the rehearsal conditions were not significant. The best multiple regression model for performance level of immunoglobulin A (p < .0015) included seven emotional, cognitive, and evaluative variables generally associated with choral singing, including levels of mood before and during singing, stress, relaxation, feeling "high," detachment/engagement, and specific satisfaction with the immediate performance.