This special issue presents the ninth edition of "Education Week's" annual report on education technology, "Technology Counts." The annual report found that the nation has made dramatic progress in developing computerized data systems that can reliably guide education decision-making, but still has plenty of work to do before those systems can fulfill their potential to accelerate student achievement. For this 2006 report, "Technology Counts" assigned letter grades to the states for the first time, based on where they stand on various indicators related to access to educational technology, the use of technology, and efforts to enhance educators' technology skills. Overall, grades range from an A for West Virginia to a D-minus for Nevada. In addition to its in-depth look at school data and the grading of the states, "Technology Counts, 2006" offers a variety of online-only components to complement this year's report on "Education Week's" Web site. Those include individualized reports with information specific to each state plus state data comparisons. Articles and features presented in this special issue include: (1) Delving into Data (David J. Hoff); (2) Keeping Track (David J. Hoff); (3) District Initiative (Rhea R. Borja); (4) Aware of All Students (Rhea R. Borja); (5) Finding the Funding (Rhea R. Borja); (6) Voices of Experience (Rhea R. Borja); (7) Monthly Checkups (Mary Ann Zehr); (8) Tip of Their Fingers (Vaishali Honawar); (9) Rising to a Challenge (Debra Viadero); (10) Risk & Reward (Rhea R. Borja); (11) "National Effort" (Andrew Trotter); (12) Tracking U.S. Trends (Christopher B. Swanson); (13) Technology Leaders: Grading the States [State Data Table]; (14) About the EPE [Editorial Projects in Education] Research Center's Annual State Technology Survey; (15) How "Education Week" Graded the States; and (16) Sources and Notes for State Data Table.