While many children in the United States lack access to formal arts instruction, there’s another equally daunting challenge: enhancing the quality of arts learning opportunities available to young people in general. With that in mind, researchers at Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education examined how to best create and sustain high-quality formal arts learning experiences for children and teens both in- and outside of school in rural, urban and suburban areas. Their conclusion: A complex array of factors, actors and settings must be in sync to achieve high quality arts education. Fundamental programming decisions, such as who teaches the arts and how arts learning should be assessed, form the foundation of high-quality programs. But researchers also found that good arts programs must engage learners on many levels and excellence requires focusing on four dimensions: learning, teaching, classroom community and environment. In addition, continuous reflection and discussion about defining “quality” and how to achieve it can be both a catalyst for and a sign of a good program. The report includes tools to help arts educators build their own visions of high-quality arts education, identify markers of quality in their own programs and seek alignment among decision-makers at all levels.