The arts aren't about mastering specific measurable units of information, but rather about integrating information and values—and since integration can occur in a wide variety of ways and take many forms, simple assessment technologies that seek precise measurements are inappropriate for the central elements of a quality arts education program.

The 62 studies identified a number of important specific areas of cognitive maturation that a quality arts education program supports. That's useful information for educators beset by political pressures, but I've always viewed the arts as an exploratory enterprise that allows our brain to reconstruct the ordinary elements of our life and world into something extraordinary—a celebration of the ordinary. For those who purport to be human, what's more important in life and school than that?