The Premise of Musical Literacy-in-Education

Early in his career, Dr. Lawrence Scripp served as a full-time faculty member in Undergraduate and Graduate Theoretical Studies and Solfège at the New England Conservatory (NEC), while simultaneously conducting basic early childhood research at Harvard Project Zero and developmental studies of musical literacy at New England Conservatory. There, he explored young children's, adolescent and early adult musical literacy development. He later became the Founding Academic and Co-Director of Music-in-Education at the Conservatory Lab Charter School. As Principal Investigator, he led over a dozen research projects in music, arts and academic learning, helping to establish the National Center for Music-in-Education and its Learning Laboratory School Network—an alliance of 12 public schools, universities, and arts organizations across eight U.S. states. In recognition of his lifelong contributions, NEC awarded him the title of Emeritus Faculty in 2021. Most recently, Dr. Scripp oversaw the refinement of his CMLIE program across a 40-school network in Singapore. There, he designed, implemented, and evaluated the program's effectiveness, culminating in what he now describes as a "proof of concept" for CMLIE as Simultaneous Interdisciplinary Cognition—a model grounded in data from control and treatment school comparisons. Dr. Scripp continues to seek opportunities to reimagine conventional music education through the lens of Comprehensive Musical Literacy-in-Education. He encourages music practitioners and educators to engage in reflective, portfolio-based action research, developing themselves as “artist-teacher-scholars” who advocate for musical literacy across diverse learning communities.

Jinli Lim is one of two recipients of the 2025 Intellectual Contribution Award from the Human Development and Education Master’s Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This award, nominated by classmates and selected in consultation with faculty and staff, was ultimately chosen by the program’s faculty directors. Prior to her time at Harvard, Jinli earned a Graduate Certificate in the Science of Learning from the National Institute of Education and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. In her early career as an engineer, she gained valuable experience in project management, team leadership, and machine modification—skills that later enriched her work in the field of education. Her parallel careers as a professional musician and piano technician sparked her growing awareness of the unequal access to quality music education. This realization led her to advocate for the development of musical literacy skills for all children. As an educational research associate and educator, Jinli has co-authored a paper on how musical literacy skill development impacts early mathematics and English language abilities. She has taught musical literacy to children aged 1.5 to 6 years, mentored teachers in their ongoing professional development, and conducted large-scale training for a network of 40 schools across Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Australia.

Josh Gilbert is a doctoral candidate in Education Policy and Program Evaluation at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He received his bachelor’s degree in music from New England Conservatory and his master’s degree in education from Harvard Graduate School of Education. Gilbert’s professional experience includes 10 years as a freelance musician and music teacher, research positions with Harvard Project Zero and Harvard’s READS Lab, faculty positions with New England Conservatory and Berklee College of Music, and curriculum design and evaluation with MindChamps preschools in Singapore. His publications have appeared in Arts Education Policy Review, AERA Open, the Journal of Educational Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, Psychological Methods, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, among others. Full publication list available in the google scholar link in this profile.