For Immediate
Release: October 15, 2014
Contact: Amber Taylor
703-201-4893
amber@taylored-communications.com
Students, Parents, Teachers,
Administrators “Speak Up” on
Top Technology Issues Facing Schools
National Speak Up 2014 Surveys Open
Until December 19th
Online Surveys: http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/
Irvine, Calif. – For
the 12th year, K-12 students, parents, teachers, administrators and
community members across the country have the opportunity to share their views
on the role of technology within learning as part of the annual Speak Up
National Research Project.
The national online
Speak
Up 2014 surveys
are open to all students, parents, educators and community members until
December 19
th. More than 13,000
individuals have responded since the surveys opened last week.
More than 10,000 schools and 3,000 districts are expected to
register and promote the online surveys to their stakeholders again this year
because of the value of the Speak Up data in informing their plans and policies
for the school year. Schools and
districts who register to participate receive survey data particular to their
school(s) at no cost. Last year, more than 400,000 people shared their
opinions.
Always cognizant of the key issues facing schools and
districts with technology usage, this year’s Speak Up annual surveys poll K-12
students, educators and parents about the use of mobile devices, online and blended learning classes, digital games and
digital content within learning. The
2014 surveys include new questions about data privacy, students’ interest in
learning coding, college and career readiness, teachers’ familiarity with
digital badges, and the features desired by both students and parents in a
school mobile app.
As more students have their own smartphones, tablets and
laptops, last year’s surveys showed a major shift in attitudes towards Bring
Your Own Device (BYOD) policies. The surveys continue to explore that issue as
well as schools’ bandwidth capacity to support the use of high quality digital
content such as videos and animations within classroom instruction. And in recognition of the ongoing interest in
improving teachers’ skills with technology, the Speak Up surveys collect
important data for local schools about teachers’ wish lists for professional
development and the training methodologies that are more effective.
“Speak Up provides an easy way for students, parents,
teachers, administrators and community members to tell school leaders and
policymakers how they feel about some of the most important policies and
programs that impact day-to-day school life,” said Julie Evans, CEO of Project
Tomorrow.
“Innovative education leaders use the annual results of
Speak Up each spring to help direct their policies, programs and investments,” said
Evans. “As a national nonprofit dedicated to improving learning experiences for
students, we are pleased to leverage our expertise in collecting authentic
stakeholder feedback to provide this important free service to local schools
and national leaders.”
After more than a decade and 3.4 million participants, Speak
Up continues to be the only annual, national survey to ask students, educators
and parents how they use – and how they would like to use – technology for
learning. Again this year, the online
surveys ask students, parents and educators to envision their ultimate 21
st
century school and to identify the technology tools that would be essential to
support increased student achievement and learning. Past Speak Up national reports are available
at
www.tomorrow.org/speakup/speakup_reports.html.
The Speak Up National Research Project represents the largest
collection of authentic, unfiltered input on education and technology from
those ‘on the ground’ in the schools. The annual survey about education and
technology is facilitated through public, private, parochial and charter
schools all around the country. The parent survey is also available in Spanish.
Project Tomorrow will share the national data findings from
the survey in the spring with federal, state and local policymakers. Additionally, every school or district that
participates in Speak Up receives a free online report with all of their
locally collected data – and the national data findings to use for benchmark
comparison. All participating education entities will gain access to their own
stakeholder data in February 2015.
Individual participation and responses provided in the Speak
Up surveys are completely confidential and completing the online surveys takes
only 20 minutes. Speak Up is open to
every public and private school and district in the United States, American
schools on military bases and other interested schools worldwide.
Since 2003, more than 3.4 million K-12 students, educators
and parents from more than 30,000 schools in all 50 states have participated in
Speak Up. The online survey is facilitated by Project Tomorrow and supported by
many of our nation’s most innovative companies, foundations and nonprofit
organizations including Blackboard, Inc., BrainPOP, DreamBox Learning, Fuel
Education, Qualcomm Wireless Reach, Rosetta Stone, and Schoolwires.
Project Tomorrow partners with more than 75 different
education associations, organizations and think-tanks for outreach to the
schools and development of the survey questions including the American
Association of School Administrators, Consortium for School Networking, Digital
Learning Day, Digital Promise, edWeb.net, iNACOL, International Society for Technology
in Education, National School Boards Association, National Secondary School
Principals Association, Southern Regional Education Board and State Education
Technology Directors’ Association.
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