Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

The Board of Trustees and Shareholders of

Ariel Investment Trust:

We have audited the accompanying statements of assets and liabilities of the Ariel Fund, Ariel Appreciation Fund, and Ariel Focus Fund (the “Funds” within Ariel Investment Trust), including the schedules of investments, as of September 30, 2010, the related statements of operations for the year then ended, the statements of changes in net assets for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, and the financial highlights for each of the years in the five-year period then ended.  These financial statements and financial highlights are the responsibility of the Funds’ management.  Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and financial highlights based on our audits.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States).  Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements and financial highlights are free of material misstatement.  An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements and financial highlights.  Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of September 30, 2010 by correspondence with the custodian and brokers.  An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation.  We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

In our opinion, the financial statements and financial highlights referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Funds as of September 30, 2010, and the results of their operations for the year then ended, the changes in their net assets for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, and the financial highlights for each of the years in the five-year period then ended, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

Chicago, Illinois

November 9, 2010