Across the nation, the arts provide a more expansive means of educating American students and equipping them to participate fully in the workforce of the 21st century. Current research links arts experiences to academic achievement and personal development. Arts experiences strengthen students' understanding of themselves and each other and provide critical skills and competencies.

The Impact of Arts Education on Workforce Preparation
Economic and Technology Policy Studies Issue Brief
published by National Governors' Association Center for Best Practices, (c) 2002

The NGA Center for Best Practices helps governors and their key policy staff develop and implement innovative solutions to governance and policy challenges. NGA commissioned this issue brief to highlight the effectiveness of arts education in providing young people, particularly young people at the margins of our society, with the skills they need to be productive participants in today's economy.

Key findings:
 "Diverse arts education programs-in and out of school curricula-have proven to be valuable options for states seeking to develop advanced workforce skills for general, at-risk, and incarcerated students. With the help of the arts, governors can ensure that skills are developed effectively, completely, and to the best advantage of the states and their constituencies."

Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Achievement
Arts Education Partnership, Washington, D.C. (c) 2002

This definitive book summarizes AEP's second survey of research from across the nation on the benefits of arts education. The 62 studies highlighted in the compendium focus on the link between the arts and learning. Art forms studied include visual arts, dance, theater, music, and multidisciplinary arts.

Key findings:
Participation in the arts has a distinct ability to increase students' academic and social development.

• "Skill and craft gained in the arts help students to understand that they can improve in other consequential activities and that their heightened skill can give pleasure to themselves and to others."

• Research supports the role of the arts in assisting the development of academic skills, including basic and advanced literacy, both verbally and with numbers.

• Well-crafted arts experiences produce positive social and academic effects.

Champions of Change: The Impact of Arts on Learning
Arts Education Partnership and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, Washington, D.C. (c) 1999

Building on previous research in the arts and learning, Champions of Change explores why and how young people were changed through their arts experiences. It features articles by nationally-recognized teams of researchers and includes multiple studies that range from an examination of data from 25,000+ students from the National Educational Longitudinal Survey to a study of two education programs conducted by Shakespeare and Company.

Key findings:
In a comprehensive summary of the arts and its effects on students across the country in varying socio-economic sectors, arts programs that took place in both school settings and in outside organizations positively impacted learning experiences.

• The arts reach students who are not otherwise being reached and connect students to themselves and each other.

• The arts transform the learning environment by providing a unique focus for social interactions and engagement.

• The arts provide teachers, parents, and adults-individuals that are rarely given sufficient or significant opportunities for their own continuing education-with an opportunity to participate in lifelong learning.

• The arts provide new challenges, exposure to professional artists, and potential mentors for successful students that have already outgrown their learning establishments.

• The arts foster the generation, development, and communication of new ideas and, therefore, directly connect to the development of skills needed in the workforce.

Gaining the Arts Advantage: Lessons from School Districts that Value Arts Education
President's Committee on Arts and Humanities and the Arts Education Partnership, Washington, D.C. (c) 1999

The practices and conditions that create and sustain district-wide commitment to arts education for all students are identified in this two-year study of American school districts.

Key findings:
The conditions and practices that create district-wide commitment to arts education for all students are:

• Active engagement of all types of individuals in the community including parents and businesses.

• A supportive policy framework provided by the board of education.

• Well-articulated visions for arts education from superintendents.

• Collective support from a cadre of principals.

• Encouragement of effective teachers of the arts in the continued pursuit and mastery of their art forms as well as teaching competence.