September/October 2002 | NW REPORT

Kathleen Cotton's

Passing Saddens Many

The education community lost a distinguished writer, Kathleen Cotton, on July 5, 2002, following a valiant struggle with cancer. The first recipient of NWREL's Jerry Kirkpatrick Annual Award for Special Achievement, Cotton made major contributions to the work and national reputation of the Laboratory.

Joining the School Improvement Program in 1989, she synthesized research findings into highly readable and usable publications. It was an activity she loved. Published and cited more than any other NWREL employee, Cotton wrote the popular Effective Schooling Practices: A Research Synthesis, now published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) as Research You Can Use To Improve Results. Her Principals of High-Achieving Schools: What the Research Says was accepted for publication by ASCD shortly before her death.

"Kathleen will be truly missed by all of us on both professional and personal levels. Her passing is a loss to education and the Laboratory," said Carol F. Thomas, the Laboratory's chief executive officer.