TOMORROW is your last chance to take the Speak Up survey!

There is still time to Speak Up and share your thoughts about education! Visit www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2015 to take the survey by 11:59pm on Friday, December 18th - all participating districts are eligible to win a free national or regional conference registration!

Once you've submitted your survey, please share the national survey link (www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2015) with your friends, students, parents, administrators, community organization members, affiliates, or anyone who has a passion for improving education - we want everyone to have a voice in the future of how technology is used in our nation's schools!

If you would like to share the survey via email or social media page, feel free to use our text below:

Have a voice on educational policy by taking the Speak Up survey! Only takes 15 minutes or less to complete and you are adding invaluable input to key educational issues like the homework gap- kids access to internet, technology in schools, and more! Either take the general public survey (community) or parent survey if you have a kid in grades K-12 www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2015

Speak Up Family and Friends: ASTA and SREB

With only THREE days left to Speak Up, we'd like to take a moment and highlight some of our Speak Up family and friends' news and upcoming events! Check out the latest news from our friends at the Arizona Science Teachers Association (ASTA) and the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB):

Arizona Science Teachers Association (ASTA)

21st Century STEM: Integrate to Innovate Conference

Phoenix Convention Center

Pre-Conference Field Trips, January 21, 2016

General Conference Sessions, January 22-23, 2016

Registration for Attendees and Exhibitors

All Arizona Pre-K through college educators in all areas of STEM: Science, Math, Engineering, Technology, and CTE are invited to attend ASTA's 2016 conference in Phoenix, AZ! Registration includes: 

• Up to three days of engaging, relevant professional learning for PreK-16 educators, informal educators, business partners, and community leaders in all areas of STEM.
• 12  field trip options on Thursday, January 21, 2016.  Visits include K -12 schools, colleges/universities, a variety of museums, businesses and bio-medical research facilities. 
• Five amazing keynotes from current innovators in STEM education and industry: Hadi Partovi, Code.org; Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos; Jaime Casap, Google Education; Jo Anne Vasquez, Ph.D, Author STEM Essentials; and Dr. Joan Ferrini-Mundy, NSF. 
• The opportunity to choose from a variety of high-interest sessions to match your role in STEM.
• Unlimited networking opportunities with educators and industry who are actively involved in leading and influencing the teaching of science, technology, engineering, and math.
• Access to the exhibit hall featuring the latest STEM products, services, and opportunities from partners in education.

Click here to register

Southern Regional Education Board (SREB)

Interested in learning more about equity of access for students without Internet and computer coding? Our friends at SREB hosted two webinars earlier this year related to equity of access! Click here to view the webinars.

Special thanks to ASTA, SREB, and the rest of our Speak Up family and friends who have taken and promoted the Speak Up survey! This Friday is your last chance to Speak Up and make an impact on education policy - visit http://bit.ly/SU15survey to take the survey.

Last call for Speak Up surveys!

Spread the word about the survey with our last minute promotional ideas

With one week to go, there is still plenty of time to get the word out about Speak Up. If you just registered your district or are looking for new ways to promote the survey, try one of these ideas: ▪ ▪ Host a Speak Up Day or week: Pick a day this week to have your K-12 community complete the Speak Up Surveys! ▪ ▪ Focus on one survey type: A focus on teachers, parents and/or administrators is an easy push and a great way to receive a meaningful dataset. We recommend sending an email or phone recording to parents or email blast to your teachers. Click here for a variety of sample emails. ▪ ▪ Highlight the Speak Up survey on your website using one of our Speak Up logos (with a link to the survey). Click here for the code to embed on your website. Make sure to include your survey password! ▪ ▪ Use social media networks such as Facebook or Twitter to get the word out about Speak Up to your stakeholders. Try retweeting one of our @SpeakUpEd tweets or post from our sample tweets at the end of this newsletter. Spread the word! Once you've taken the Speak Up survey, share it with your friends, colleagues, and family members! Simply copy and paste the text below into an email or on one of your social media walls to spread the word - feel free to change the text: Have a voice on educational policy by taking the Speak Up survey! Only takes 15 minutes or less to complete and you are adding invaluable input to key educational issues like the homework gap- kids access to internet, technology in schools, and more! Either take the general public survey (community), educator or parent survey if you have a kid in grades K-12 www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2015 Sample Tweets ▪ ▪ Natl surveys for teachers, parents, students & community close this Fri. Don't miss your chance to be heard! bit.ly/SU15survey #edtech ▪ ▪ Are you “Speaking Up” about digital learning this year? Make your voice heard participate in Speak Up 2015 at bit.ly/SU15survey ▪ ▪ Donate 15 min of your time to impact the future of #education! Help shape #edpolicy by taking the #SpeakUpsurvey: bit.ly/SU15survey ▪ ▪ Participate in Speak Up and share your ideas about how to leverage technology in schools to promote better learning: bit.ly/SU15survey

Speak Up America has been EXTENDED!

We heard you loud and clear last week! Due to multiple requests, we have decided to extend several of our Speak Up America contests and challenges through this week! We understand that many of you plan on participating in Speak Up this week and we wanted to give everyone an equal opportunity to win. Therefore, our national conference and regional conference registration contests, photo and video challenge, and book giveaway have been extended! Check out what's still up for grabs below:

National Conference Registrations

• BbWorld 2016
• CoSN 2016 Annual Conference
• 2016 iNACOL Blended and Online Learning Symposium 
• 2016 ISTE Conference and Expo (only one registration left!)

Regional Conference Registrations

• CETPA
• CUE
• ICE
• NCCE
• NETA

Speak Up America Book Giveaway

• Flip Your Classroom by Bergmann and Sams (donated by Arfstrom Consulting)
• Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis by Robert Putnam (donated by Arfstrom Consulting)
• Real Women, Real Leaders: Surviving and Succeeding in the Business World by Kathleen Hurley (donated by Girls Thinking Global)

Speak Up America Photo and Video Challenge

• Extended through Wednesday, December 16th with results announced by the end of the week!
• Click here to review the challenge rules 
• Click here to view our current list of #SpeakUpSnapshot entries!

Need some last minute promotional ideas for the last week of Speak Up? Click here to download some of our sample emails and ideas!

Speak Up 2015 Snapshots for School Communications

Communication Officers and Community Member Preliminary Data Snapshot

This is a special release of the preliminary data findings from Speak Up 2015 (data collected from October 1 – December 4th from 182 Communication Officers and 4,070 Community Officers nationwide). The final data results will be published in a series of national reports in spring 2015.

Do you want a chance to win a $225 classroom or school grant? Participate in Speak Up, before it closes on Friday, December 19^th! Then take a photo using the Speak Up America badge showing your classroom or school participation for a chance to win a $225 classroom grant! Learn more about this great opportunity here: http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/speakupamerica.html#challenge.  

Take the survey at: http://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2015/. Now is the time to Speak Up about education – be sure to participate before Friday, December 18th.

Speak Up 2015 Snapshots for Science Teacher

Science Teacher Preliminary Data Snapshot

This is a special release of the preliminary data findings from Speak Up 2015 (data collected from October 1 – December 4th from 1,689 Science Teachers nationwide). The final data results will be published in a series of national reports in spring 2015.

The Speak Up survey is open to anyone who is interested in sharing their thoughts about education. If you are not a student, educator, administrator or parent but would like to take the survey, please take our community members survey. Feel free to share the survey (http://bit.ly/SU15survey) with anyone who may be interested as well!

2015 Preliminary Data Student Snapshot

Check out our third preliminary data snapshot of the week from this year's Speak Up survey! This one is on middle school student data pulled from 80,501 student surveys as of 12/4/15.




If you have not already, please take a moment to complete the Speak Up Survey as today is National Speak Up Day!

By giving 15 minutes of your time to Speak Up Day, you can make sure your voice is heard loud and clear from classrooms to the halls of Congress, from state capitols to boardrooms.  Ensure that policymakers are making those important program and funding decisions based upon real data from real education stakeholders – you!   

To “Speak Up,” simply visit http://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2015 to take the survey by Dec. 18^th!

We would like everyone to have a voice in the future of how technology is used in our nation’s schools.  So, please share this link with your friends, students, teachers, parents, administrators, community organizations, members, affiliates or anyone who has a passion for improving education and ask them to take the Speak Up survey TODAY.