The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship of teacher certification area to sexual misconduct. The study also examined teachers certified in music education to ascertain the frequency with which they are disciplined for sexual misconduct and to compare that information with teachers of other subject areas. Data were randomly selected from the Florida Department of Education’s Discipline Against Educator Licenses database. Within the sample (N = 290), teachers holding multiple certifications were found to be the most frequent offenders (35.51%), and music teachers accounted for less than 5% of the total. The most frequent offense was sexual misconduct (25.77%), and more than 60% of the offending music teachers in the sample had been disciplined for this offense. Ramifications of this type of study for music teacher education are discussed as well as recommendations for dissemination of this information to preservice music educators.
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