Speak Up Loud and Clear Recognizes Top Schools for Incorporating Student, Teacher, Parent, and School Administrator Ideas into Local Education Planning

Over two hundred schools and districts across the country were recognized for incorporating feedback from their students, educators, parents, and community as they develop strategic plans, make budgeting decisions, enhance their curriculum and determine professional development needs. Project Tomorrow®, a national education nonprofit, announced this year’s Speak Up Loud and Clear schools, a collection of the top K-12 schools that encourage and involve authentic student, parent, and educator ideas and views in education planning and decision-making. 

“I am very excited to announce the top schools in the country that demonstrated their commitment to listening to their stakeholders’ views on education and digital learning,” said Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow. “The Speak Up Loud and Clear schools have done an excellent job of incorporating the views of students, parents, educators, and administrators in local decision-making. Each year, we strive to make progress in leveraging technology to enhance the educational experience for all involved in our schools across the nation, and this year’s Speak Up Loud and Clear schools prove this goal is possible.”

The schools were selected for this national distinction from over 30,000 schools nationwide that participated in the annual Speak Up surveys, collected by Project Tomorrow since 2003, in 2013. The Speak Up National Research Project collects K-12 student, parent and educator viewpoints on technology usage and 21st century aspirations through an annual online survey process, and shares that data with national, state, and local policymakers to improve education for all children. 

The schools selected for Speak Up Loud and Clear represent a broad range of educational institutions in rural, suburban, and urban communities. The complete list of Speak Up Loud and Clear recognized schools are highlighted on the Project Tomorrow website at http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/speakup-loud-clear.html.  

Based upon total participation and demonstrated commitment to engaging their stakeholders in local decisions on education issues, five school districts were recognized as Speak Up Loud and Clear top districts:

• Klein Independent School District (Texas)
• McAllen Independent School District (Texas)
• Weslaco Independent School District (Texas)
• Shelby County School District (Alabama)
• Fairfax County Public Schools (Virginia)

Project Tomorrow will promote this year’s Speak Up Loud and Clear schools’ distinction to the Congressional representative and state Governor of each Speak Up Loud and Clear school to demonstrate the power of educational innovation at the local level. The schools will also receive a unique Speak Up Loud and Clear logo to include on their school and district websites.  

Project Tomorrow has tapped into the expertise of this year’s Speak Up Loud and Clear schools to develop new questions for Speak Up 2014 which is open from October 6th through December 19th, 2014 for student, educator, parent input and more at http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/. Additionally, their success stories are being shared with our partners and national policy organizations to inform national and regional education reform efforts.