Discusses the founding and activities of the National Arts Education Research Center, focusing on the site at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Outlines the center's current seven project program, briefly describing each project. Defines the Center's purpose as seeking the best ways to teach and assess learning in the arts. (DB)

A survey was conducted to determine a quantitative baseline on the status of music, visual art, dance and drama/theater education in U.S. public schools. A stratified random sampling technique was used and questionnaires were sent to 1,366 U.S. public schools seeking data about demographics, curricula, adequacy of instructional material, and…