“When two researchers published a study a few years ago concluding that arts classes do not improve students’ overall academic performance, the backlash was bitter.” In a new book, those researchers, Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland, “argue forcefully for the benefits of art education, while still defending their 2000 thesis. In their view art education should be championed for its own sake, not because of a wishful sentiment that classes in painting, dance and music improve pupils’ math and reading skills and standardized test scores.”