This article presents the special issues of the eighth edition of "Education Week's" annual report on education technology, "Technology Counts." The annual report tracks the economic and policy forces that are converging to push those changes, which are happening at the federal, state, and local levels. States and school districts are spending millions of dollars to build online student-data systems that will offer teachers what policymakers hope will be the information needed to craft clear-cut strategies for raising achievement. The biggest impetus for putting money into such data systems is arguably the expansive reporting requirements and ambitious student-achievement goals set forth in the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The featured articles in this special issue include: (1) NCLB Focuses on Data Tools (David J. Hoff); (2) Bush vs. Clinton (Andrew Trotter); (3) State Support Varies Widely (Rhea R. Borja); (4) Cyber Schools' Status (Rhea R. Borja); (5) Federal Role Seen Shifting (Andrew Trotter); (6) E-Rate: The Road Ahead (Andrew Trotter); (7) Schools Eye Future Costs (Marianne D. Hurst); (8) Big-District Priorities (John Gehring); and (9) Tracking U.S. Trends (Erin Fox). Individual articles contain references, figures and tables.