In some ways today's students are like young people have always been: awkward, confident, shy, assertive, carefree, worried about appearances and other changes in their lives. The quest for independence begins and moral and ethical decisions are shaped: what is appropriate about sex, authority, getting along with others. But today's youth are seeing, hearing about, and facing issues that previous generations only occasionally mentioned, or even saw at all: abuse, lack of stability in family structures, longer unsupervised times at home, increasing violence in the news or in their community, exposure to highly appealing advertisements, an economy that seeks young workers year-round, fewer opportunities for sustained exposure to positive adult role models, temptations to experiment with a range of potentially harmful substances, access to electronic games that emphasize power, control and violence, poverty and hunger despite a healthy economy.

Schools cannot be effective today doing things the same way we did three decades ago. A Nation at Risk rang a wake-up bell for American education when it was published in 1983. Since then, a virtual revolution has occurred to reform elementary and secondary education, but much remains to be done.

We are proud of the role the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory has played in assisting schools and communities for 33 years. We look forward to continuing to do so as we begin the 21st century.

Dr. Ethel Simon-McWilliams
Executive Director/CEO