Speak Up News - May 2014

RSVP to attend the June 2nd Speak Up Congressional Briefing In this newsletter, you will find information regarding... ▪ RSVP to attend the June 2nd in-person event! Register to attend the 2nd Congressional Briefing on the Speak Up 2013 National Findings taking place next month on June 2nd in Washington DC! ▪ $1,000 Grant Opportunity for Orange County, CA educators and students!Place a nomination today, to recognize outstanding education programs, educators and students for their innovative uses of science, math and technology.  ▪ Get a head start on Speak Up 2014! Registration now open, surveys will be available October 6th- December 19th, 2014 ▪ Future Teachers, we want to hear from you! The Speak Up For Higher Education surveys will be extended though the end of the year! Find out how to get your institution involved today! ▪ Speak Up on the Go! Upcoming presentations with our CEO, Julie Evans. Happy Reading! Feel free to share your thoughts with us on Facebook, Twitter, and our Blog. -The Project Tomorrow team

National Release of Speak Up 2013 K-12 Educator and Parent Findings - Washington, DC. RSVP today to attend this in person event on June 2, 2014 OR click here to reserve a copy of the report! Please join us for our second briefing on June 2nd for the release of the Speak Up 2013 National Findings from Teachers, Administrators and Parents. The briefing will include a presentation of the national findings and a moderated panel discussion on the impact of digital learning tools to support college and career readiness with leaders in the education field. This year’s national report, “The New Digital Learning Playbook, Advancing College and Career Ready Skill Development in K-12 Schools” will be distributed to all attendees. Please visit our website athttp://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/speakup_congressEd.html to RSVP or reply to this email to confirm your attendance. We also encourage you to share this invite with any additional colleagues that may be interested in attending.

The Project Tomorrow Innovation in Education Awards Project Tomorrow, in partnership with the OC Tech Alliance, is calling for nominations from the Orange County community to recognize outstanding education programs, educators and students for their innovative uses of science, math and technology. The Annual Innovation in Education Awards process is open to all public and private schools in Orange County, CA and nomination forms are available on Project Tomorrow’s website,http://www.tomorrow.org/programs/innovationawards.html. Project Tomorrow is seeking nominations in three categories this year: ▪ Innovative Schoolwide Program of the Year in Science, Math & Technology – distinguishing a public, private, or parochial school that demonstrates innovation with an outstanding, results-based schoolwide program ▪ High Impact Teacher of the Year in Science, Math & Technology – acknowledging the influence of a great teacher in his/her use of science, math or technology to significantly impact student academic achievement ▪ Emerging Student Innovator of the Year in Science, Math & Technology – recognizing current eighth grade or freshman, sophomore, and junior high school students who are creatively using science, math and technology resources to solve a school or community problem Nominations for the 2014 Project Tomorrow Innovation in Education awards may be self-submitted or submitted by a district and/or school staff person. Organizations such as a PTA unit, parent advisory committee, or any youth based organization(s) are also eligible to nominate. An independent review panel of local education and business leaders will select this year’s award recipients. Applications are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, May 30, 2014. Nomination may be submitted through the online application forms found at http://www.tomorrow.org/programs/innovationawards.html.

We are excited to announce that the Speak Up 2014 surveys for students, parents and educators will be open for input October 6th through December 19th! With Speak Up 2014 just around the corner, it's not too early to start making plans to take the survey. Get a head start and update your school or district profile for the 2014 surveys at: http://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2014/. Each year a school or district primary contact will need to re-register with a new district profile (contact info, passwords) to gain access to their Speak Up information both during and after the survey process.

Calling all Schools of Education! Participate in Speak Up for Higher Educationand share your ideas about how to leverage technology in schools to promote better learning! Teacher Educators and aspiring teachers we want to hear from you, join the conversation about the use of technology for learning through Speak Up for Higher Education, a National Research Project. Since 2003, over 3.4 million K-12 education stakeholders have participated in the annual online surveys. This year, for the first time will be offering a special survey just for Teacher Educators. As a companion to our other Speak Up for Higher Education survey, “Tomorrow’s Teachers Speak Up!”, your input will help complete the picture of what’s required to effectively support the use of technology for learning for the next generation of teachers’ in their future classrooms. In 2012, over 1,300 college students in teacher preparation programs participated in Speak Up for Higher Education. Now's your chance to get involved! Be a part of the conversation and share your ideas about how to leverage technology in schools to promote better learning. School of Education Leaders—here is how you can get involved with Speak Up for Higher Education this year: 1.) Take the survey today athttp://www.speakup4highered.org/speakup2014/. Survey is open to all School of Education faculty. 2.) Promote the surveys to your students. Start spreading the word about Speak Up to your students currently enrolled in your teacher preparation programs. To assist with any outreach to your members and hopefully make it easy to share information about the survey, we have a variety of sample emails, tweets and flyers available on our promotional material webpage:http://www.tomorrow.org/SU4HigherEd/promo_higher.html. To learn more about how your institution can get involved with Speak Up for Higher Education, please contact Jenny Hostert at (949) 609-4660 x17 /jhostert@tomorrow.org or visit our website athttp://www.tomorrow.org/SU4HigherEd/index.html.

Speak Up on the Go! Upcoming Presentations Will you be attending ISTE this year? If yes, stop by one of Julie's Speak Up sessions! Measuring teachers' readiness to leverage digital content: Are you ready? Sunday, 06/29/14, 2:30 p.m.–3:30 p.m. ISTE 2014 Atlanta, GA Empowering student and educator voice through the Speak Up surveys (Birds of a feather session) Monday, 06/30/14, 5:15 p.m.–6:30 p.m. ISTE 2014 Atlanta, GA The emergence of the self-directed digital learner Tuesday, 07/01/14, 1:15 p.m.–2:15 p.m. ISTE 2014 Atlanta, GA Are you attending ISTE with student attendees or K-12 school aged children? We want to talk with you! On Tuesday, July 1st Julie will be hosting a student panel and we would love to have your student/child participate! If interested, please contact Jenny Hostert at jhostert@tomorrow.org. Past Presentations Engage, Enable, Empower: How math & science teachers are transforming learning with digital tools 100Kin10 May 12, 2014 Students Speak Up: what everyone should know about students and digital learning Learning Impact Leadership Institute IMS Global Learning May 6, 2014 Speak Up 2013 National Findings: Students Congressional Briefing Washington DC April 8, 2014

Thank you for your interest and continued support of Speak Up! Be sure to stay updated on all things Speak Up by following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and our Blog. If you have any questions please feel free to contact our Speak Up Operations Manager, Jenny Hostert, at jhostert@tomorrow.org or via phone at 949/609-4660 ext. 17.