Foreword

This booklet is the eighteenth in a series of "hot topics" reports produced by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. These reports briefly address current educational concerns and issues as indicated by requests for information that come to the Laboratory.

One objective of the series is to foster a sense of community and connection among educators. Another is to increase awareness of current education-related themes and concerns. Each booklet gives practitioners a glimpse of how fellow educators from around the Northwest are addressing issues, overcoming obstacles, and attaining success. The goal of the series is to give educators current, reliable, and useful information on topics that are important to them.

This issue is a collaborative project between the Comprehensive Center and Planning and Program Development's Education Resource Specialist.

Other titles in the series include:

• Service Learning in the Northwest Region
• Tutoring: Strategies for Successful Learning
• Scheduling Alternatives: Options for Student Success
• Grade Configuration: Who Goes Where?
• Alternative Schools: Approaches for Students at Risk
• All Students Learning: Making It Happen in Your School
• High-Quality Professional Development: An Essential Component of Successful Schools
• Student Mentoring
• Peaceful Schools
• After-School Programs: Good for Kids, Good for Communities
• Parent Partners: Using Parents To Enhance Education
• When Students Don't Succeed: Shedding Light on Grade Retention
• Making Positive Connections With Homeschoolers
• Increasing Student Motivation and Engagement: From Time-on-Task to Homework
• Power of Public Relations In Schools
• Supporting Beginning Teachers: How Administrators, Teachers and Policymakers Can Help New Teachers Succeed
• Technology in Early Childhood Education: Finding the Balance