17cÍøÒ³°æ

Wes McRae | Atlanta, GA – May 15, 2026

Two recent co-written, peer-reviewed papers by Joshua Palkki, associate professor in the 17cÍøÒ³°æ, address national conversations around music education, policy, and gender.

The first paper, , published in Arts Education Policy Review and co-authored by Dillon Beede, Tatyana Louis-Jacques, Katie Smith, and Mia Ibrahim, presents a systematic review of All-State choir policies across all 50 states. Drawing on organizational documents and direct correspondence, the study evaluates how policies may affect transgender and gender-expansive students in multiple areas, including ensemble names, concert attire, housing, ensemble participation requirements, and vocal part assignment.

In the study, Palkki saw both progress and inconsistencies. "We found a lot of agreement about moving away from gendered ensemble names," Palkki said. "Traditionally, groups were called men's choirs and women's choirs. As our thoughts about gender have evolved, a lot of schools and organizations are moving away from that."

On the other hand, the study also found a lot of variation between schools, attributed to a lack of organizational leadership. "Statewide organizations organize these All-State choirs, and for a lot of these things, such as uniform policy, the organization really isn’t taking a stand. They kick that can down the road to teachers."

"I'm hoping to distribute this to people that have power to actually change these things, so sharing it with people in different state and national organizations," Palkki said. "Now we have this policy snapshot, maybe some states want to reconsider what they're what they're doing."

The second paper, , published in Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education and co-authored by Justin Caithaml and Shawn Kimbrel, adopts a critical theoretical framework, employing feminist critical discourse analysis to examine the U.S. Department of Education chapter of the Project 2025 report.

"We explored the sort of ideas that come up over and over in the chapter how most of the author’s claims aren't based on the extant literature," Palkki said. "The author is working to imbue certain terms or words like ‘gender ideology' with fear that isn't inherent in the words. But if something gets repeated enough times, some people start to believe it's true."

"We also analyzed what are called 'lexical absences,' words that are conspicuously absent. For example, the word 'transgender' does not appear."

The paper also explores how these narratives translate into real-world implications for music educators. "A lot of these policies that they're talking about in the Heritage Foundation report really do have tangible impacts for music teachers, especially," Palkki said. "For a concert, all the students' names are listed in the program. In the current climate,  a music teacher could risk losing their job for calling students by their real names and listing those in public places. It’s incredibly complex."

Together, these publications offer both evidence-based policy analysis and critical examination of policy language in these evolving conversations. "We talk about the policy implications of all this, and I think one of our constant refrains is that state organizations can do a lot more."