The nation's schools are being challenged to make sure "no child is left behind" as they strive to help all students reach the level of achievement essential for success in school, work, and life in the 21st century.

This new Compendium of arts education research studies explores critical links between learning in the arts and the nation's ability to successfully meet this goal.

	Critical Links, for the first time, brings together a group of studies focused on understanding the cognitive capacities developed in learning and practicing the arts and the relationship of those capacities to students' academic performance and social development.
	Compendium studies also examine achievement motivations, attitudes, and dispositions toward learning and fostered through learning and practicing the arts and the link between these motivations and academic performance and social development.
	The studies suggest that for certain populations--including young children, students from economically disadvantaged circumstances, and students needing remedial instruction--learning in the arts may be uniquely able to advance learning success in other areas.