ArtsSmarts' impact on students is two-fold. Our projects are designed to improve student engagement and cultivate 21^st century learning skills.

Across Canada there is increased attention to the important relationship between the quality of learning environments and student achievement.  Concern is growing regarding the number of students who are fading out or dropping out of school and about the gaps in achievement among different groups of students.

Research shows that many problems such as disengagement, dissatisfaction with schooling experience and dropping out are significantly linked to the learning environment.

By high school, up to 60 percent of all students - urban, suburban and rural - are chronically disengaged from school (Klem and Connell, 2004). It is estimated that 12 percent of Canadian students do not finish secondary school (Bushnik, Barr-Telford and Bussière, 2004).

Disengagement is disproportionately experienced by students living in poverty, students with disabilities, and students from ethnic minority and Aboriginal communities.  Increasingly, disengagement in and from school is linked to school violence, social exclusion, and a polarization severe enough to pose a threat to social cohesion in Canada (Willms, Friesen and Milton, 2009).

Furthermore, many education policy makers and researchers argue that, among other things, the 21^st century learning agenda must foster the development of creative and innovative habits in both the instructional practices and outcomes we strive for in schools today.

The process of inquiry, design, expression and reflection applies equally to all disciplines, however, the arts focus on the development of creativity. That makes the arts central to post-industrial education whose objective has to be the development of human resources and natural creativity.

ArtsSmarts is uniquely positioned to address the challenges of student engagement and the requirements of the 21^st century learning agenda.