What would education be like without the arts? Without music, dance, drama, painting, sculpture and the other arts? Well, at least one group, Americans for the Arts, doesn't want to find out. Working with the Advertising Council, the national arts advocacy organization has launched a public awareness campaign it hopes will focus attention on the need to support the financing of arts education and dramatize what could happen if these programs are cut.

"We want to emphasize that while 95 percent of Americans believe that arts are important to education, there is a big lack of arts education in the school and their lives," says Bob Lynch, president of Americans for the Arts. "I'm hoping that we will see a groundswell among parents and citizens to demand more arts education for the children."

The campaign theme, "Art. Ask for More," includes radio and television spots, print advertising, billboards and Web site banners. More than 280 organizations nationwide are helping to promote the campaign. The AFT is an official campaign partner.

Participation in the arts is essential to the development of every child, according to Americans for the Arts. Young people who regularly participate in the arts, the organization says, have better school attendance and are more likely to be recognized for academic achievement.

The "Art. Ask for More" campaign is supported by a $1 million grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. You can find more information about the campaign online at www.AmericansForTheArts.org.

The Broad Foundation is looking for a few good, high-achieving school districts--districts that are successfully educating all children, regardless of their socioeconomic background.

"Our nation's knowledge-based economy demands that we provide young people from all backgrounds and circumstances with the education and skills necessary to become knowledgeable workers," says Eli Broad, who started the foundation. "If we don't, we run the risk of creating an even larger gap between the middle class and the poor."

In March, the Broad Foundation established the Broad Prize for Urban Education, a new national education award that focuses on student achievement. The prize will be awarded to the urban school district that has made the greatest overall improvement in student achievement while at the same time reducing the academic achievement gap.

The foundation, which has committed $300 million to the new initiative, will annually honor educational innovation and improvement in urban education through a cash award of $500,000. The cash award will fund scholarships for students in the winning school district to attend college and other postsecondary training.

In addition to the cash award, the winner will be showcased nationwide during the following year. The winning district's best instruction and management practices will be spotlighted for the benefit of other urban school systems.

"Ensuring achievement in America's urban public schools is the most important civil rights issue of the new century," Broad says. "Inner-city public school children will benefit from resourceful and innovative leadership, and our country will share in the success and prosperity as a whole."

A selection jury that includes former U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley; Hugh Price, president of the National Urban League; and Children's Defense Fund president Marian Wright Edelman will review the information submitted by school districts and select the winner. For more information about the foundation and the Broad Prize, visit www.broadfoundation.org.

When it comes to education levels and earnings, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that it makes sense to be a rocket scientist.

So says the Spring 2002 issue of Occupational Outlook Quarterly, which features updated statistics on the wide and growing disparity in compensation based on a worker's level of educational attainment.

The quarterly, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), reports that the annual median earnings for a worker with a professional degree in 2000 was more than 3.5 times higher than the earnings of a high school dropout. But you don't have to go to opposite ends of the wage spectrum to see that education pays. "The $7,400 differential for workers with a high school diploma [in 2000, the latest available statistics] over those who did not graduate represents a 35 percent increase in median annual earnings," according to the BLS.

And the education-gap disparity is growing. From 1997 to 2000, median earnings grew by almost 4 percent a year for those holding a professional degree and 3.5 percent for those with a master's degree. High school dropouts saw their annual earnings increase by less than 3 percent during the same period.

In 2000, the median earnings for year-round full-time workers ages 25 and older were: $80,200 (professional degree holders); $70,500 (doctorate); $55,300 (master's degree); $46,300 (bachelor's degree); $35,400 (associate degree); $32,400 (some college, no degree); $28,800 (high school diploma, including GED); and $21,400 (some high school, no diploma).