Embrace arts as tool essential to learning

A 2006 report from the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce said in its executive summary: “The best employers the world over will be looking for the most competent, most creative, and most innovative people on the face of the earth and will be willing to pay them top dollar for their services.” The report includes the arts as an essential skill for the future work force.

The arts are proven to help close the achievement gap. The collection of research described in “Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development” finds that learning in the arts may be uniquely able to boost learning and achievement for young children, students from economically disadvantaged circumstances, and students needing remedial instruction.

April Humphrey

Iowa City