American education was going through dramatic change in the beginning of the 21st century. The way children were educated was constantly evolving. Public schools, private schools, parochial schools, charter schools, and many other types of educational institutions were affected by various federal and state regulations since the 1960's. The students, teachers, and educational leaders in these institutions were consistently affected by regulations, increased academic demands, and an ever-changing educational landscape. The educational administrator and music educators were required to be innovative when seeking change in policy in regards to educational achievement while maintaining a commitment to choral music education. The purpose of this effect study was to analyze the relationship between participation in choral music and academic achievement in relationship to literacy achievement, based on data from five southern urban high schools. The research question that was examined was whether there existed a statistically significant difference in the 11th grade end-of-course literacy achievement scores of students who participated in a choral music program from those who did not; controlling for 8th grade Benchmark literacy scores. In this effect study, the researcher found evidence that prolonged involvement in choral music program during secondary training in grades 8-11 have a statistical impact upon literacy achievement; compared to those students who did not participate in choral music programs. The independent variable was the student's participation in the choral music program or non-participation, while the dependent variable was the 11th grade literacy end-of-course exam scores of both groups of students, and the 8th grade literacy benchmark scores was the covariate. The findings of this study indicated that prolonged choral music involvement over two consecutive academic semesters had a statistical impact upon the end-of-course literacy achievement examination for 11th grade students in the sample. The findings resulting from the research question did indicate a positive relationship between prolonged choral music involvement and literacy achievement; the significance of the effect was questionable due to the fact that both groups' scores increased. The concept of knowledge transfer from a particular academic content area to another, inclining positive correlations of the intermingling of disciplines, has produced mixed results in research (Rauscher & Hinton, 2006). Anticipating the similarities between the cognition of reading text and/or music, future research regarding the transferability as it relates to the similarities of reading text and/or music was highly recommended. Research designed to analyze the transfer could provide keen insight into exactly the aspects of cognition that occur during the processes. Research aforementioned in the study describes students with high literacy achievement as having a predisposition for musical study (Butzlaff, 2000). Research in the area for future consideration should explore the possibility of an association between literacy achievement level and a student's desire to begin formal music training and the correlation between their other areas of achievement in all areas. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]