Want to improve your school? ICT has become an integral part of the process. Technology is putting school management in its place - at the fingertips of teachers, students, parents and governors. Many software programs and services are now available in what is an extremely competitive market, so in this (sponsored) special issue we look at the issue of the informa-tion processes essential to school improvement. Get that part right and the technology issues should fall into place. Do it the other way around and you could end up with a data soup that no one can digest or use to make decisions cru-cial for improvement.

Merlin John, editor