Instrumentalism in education focuses on the role of music in academic performance, as seen in studies comparing instrumental and non-instrumental students.
Instrumentalism in the context of education is not about advocating for all school children to play a musical instrument or building on the concept of romanticism. It refers to a perspective in which ethnic classification is seen as a mechanism of social hierarchy. An example of this can be seen in the study by Fitzpatrick (2006) comparing academic performance of instrumental music students and non-instrumental students in Columbus public schools in Ohio.