Take a moment to Speak Up - a blog post by ISTE CEO Brian Lewis

This is a special blog post by ISTE CEO Brian Lewis. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE®) is the premier nonprofit organization serving educators and education leaders committed to empowering connected learners in a connected world. ISTE serves more than 100,000 education stakeholders throughout the world. Learn more about ISTE at iste.org.

It’s not every day that educators have access to a direct, efficient opportunity to instantly impact the future of education. But that’s certainly the case for those who take just a few minutes to complete Project Tomorrow’s 2014 Speak Up Survey through Dec. 19

By completing the brief survey – it takes only about 15 minutes – you’ll be making your voice heard from classrooms to the halls of Congress, from state capitols to boardrooms. You’ll also be ensuring that policymakers are making important program and funding decisions based upon real data from real education stakeholders.

And you’re not only assisting Project Tomorrow and others in the ed tech ecosystem, you’re helping ISTE. We use annual Speak Up Survey data to inform our policies, programs and initiatives, so your survey responses provide a double dose of influential data. And while we’re at it, we’d like to encourage other policy organizations to turn to Speak Up data to direct their initiatives. What better way to assure you’re meeting the needs, interests and vision of your members?

With so many factors creating challenges in schools today – Common Core, online assessments, changes to student populations, student safety and ever-advancing technology, to name a few – it’s profoundly important that education leaders share their opinions. And the Speak Up Survey is a straightforward way to make sure educators’ voices are heard.

If you need an additional incentive to participate, all who complete the survey by Friday, Dec. 12 will be entered to win a free registration for ISTE 2015 in Philadelphia. Complete the survey on National Speak Up Day, Wednesday, Dec. 10 and you’ll be entered into a separate ISTE 2015 registration drawing. Conference registration winners will also join Project Tomorrow CEO Julie Evans for dinner in Philadelphia and can use the time to pick her brain on all topics related to digital learning.

So, please, sit down for just a few minutes and Speak Up.