A recent Wall Street Journal article highlights solutions to the perpetual education problem in the U.S.. American students fall ever farther behind their international peers. It’s estimated that illiteracy costs American businesses $80 billion a year in lost productivity.

The author suggests that there is a growing body of evidence that music education could be the most cost effective fix for underperforming districts. Not only do high performing students typically have some music education new research indicates that low income students can benefit dramatically as well. Music training has been shown to activate neurological centers that also improve communication ability, the ability to learn math and boosts general cognitive ability.

Northwestern University neurobiologist Nina Kraus spent two years tracking 44 6-to-9-year-olds in the program and then measured their brain activity. She found a significant increase in the music students’ ability to process sounds, which is key to language, reading and focus in the classroom. Academic results bore that out: While the music students’ reading scores held steady, scores for a control group that didn’t receive lessons declined.

Check out the full article at The Wall Street Journal