Haven't taken the Speak Up survey yet?

If so, be sure to take the survey by Dec. 18!

If you haven't participated in Speak Up yet, be sure to take the survey by December 18th. Click here to take the survey or follow the link: bit.ly/SU15survey. Learn more about which survey you should take below:

Take the educator survey if you are a...

• Teacher, Librarian or Media Specialist
• Administrator, Tech leader, or Communications Officer
• School or district employee (but not a teacher or administrator)

Take the parent survey or padres de familia en español survey if you are a...

• Parent
• Spanish speaking parent

Take the group survey if you are administering group surveys for...

• K-2 student group
• Grades 3-5 student group
• Parent group
• Parent Spanish group
• Community members group

If you do not fall into any of the above categories but are interested in sharing your thoughts and ideas, please select the community survey.

Once you've submitted your survey, share the following link with five friends and encourage them to take the survey: bit.ly/SU15survey

Word of mouth is the best way to spread the word! If you need help promoting Speak Up to your friends and colleagues, visit our promotional materials page for downloadable flyers, instructions, sample emails, and more.

Kick off to Speak Up 2014!

Speak Up 2014 is now open! This year’s Speak Up annual surveys continue to pave new ground in education technology research by polling K-12 students, educators, administrators and parents about the use of mobile devices, online classes, games and digital content within learning. We listened to last year's participants and have added new topics to our surveys to spark more conversation, such as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), data privacy, student interest in programming and computing, and online assessments. This newsletter is specifically dedicated to the launch of Speak Up 2014! Below, you'll find all the information you need on what's new for 2014: ▪ ▪ Speak Up 2014 is open! Register today, surveys are available October 6th- December 19th, 2014 ▪ ▪ Announcing the Speak Up Loud and Clear leading schools: We are proud to announce our leading schools from our Speak Up 2013 survey period! ▪ ▪ First look at this year's survey questions: View this year's survey questions and learn about our new topics ▪ ▪ Speak Up has a new look! Check out our new and improved look for this year's surveys ▪ ▪ Promotional materials: Help spread the word about Speak Up with our list of promotional materials. Happy reading, and remember to Speak Up now through December 19th! Feel free to share your thoughts with us on Facebook, Twitter, and our Blog. -The Project Tomorrow team

Speak Up 2014 is now open! Help us collect valuable data by participating in Speak Up 2014 Join the conversation about the use of technology for learning through Speak Up, a National Research Project. Since 2003, over 3.4 million K-12 education stakeholders have participated in the annual online surveys. Data findings are shared each year with federal, state and local policymakers to inform education programs, policies and funding. Surveys will be open for input October 6th – December 19th, 2014 at: www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2014. Instructions for completing the Speak Up survey 1. Go to the survey website (above). 2. Click on the appropriate survey (Student, Educator, Parent, Community member). 3. Follow the given instructions to access the survey. Begin by entering your school zip or clicking on the drop down button and select your state, then go to the next line and type in your school name to find your school. 4. Students will choose their grade level and enter in their school specific password* 5. Parents and Educators will NOT need the password to access the survey. To learn more about the project and how to get involved, visit www.tomorrow.org/speakup.

Speak Up Loud and Clear: Recognizing the Top Participating Schools and Districts based on Speak Up 2013 Participation With the launch of Speak Up 2014, we would like to take this time to recognize the schools and districts that went above and beyond in their promotion and encouragement of participation to their students, parents and educators during last year's Speak Up surveys! Thank you for making last year's surveys such a success! Last year 403,292 Students, Parents, Educators and members of the community representing over 9,000 schools nationwide participated in Speak Up 2013. Out of those over 9,000 schools, we have nominated a group of 250 schools that have gone above and beyond with their promotion creativity, outreach and use of data. Many of the nominated schools exceed over 80% student participation, allowing for an extremely rich dataset for schools to use in their own local planning and research. For a complete list of the top school and districts, visit http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/speakup-loud-clear.html. Speak Up Loud and Clear, formally known as Speak Up 200, is our annual recognition program that highlights schools that are effectively incorporating Speak Up data into their local decision-making. Each year, finalists are selected based on total student participation, length of time involved with Speak Up, and use of data in local decision making.

Get a look at this year's survey questions! We've made our survey questions available to view before Speak Up launches on October 6th. Click here to view the surveys, and be on the lookout for new topics and questions! New topics include: ▪ ▪ Blended learning ▪ ▪ 1:1 computing ▪ ▪ BYOD ▪ ▪ Coding ▪ ▪ Data privacy ▪ ▪ Student self-directed learning ▪ ▪ Ideal school mobile app ▪ ▪ College and career readiness skills ▪ ▪ And more!

Speak Up has a new participant badge! Wear this badge proudly as you display it on your website, your e-mails, your social media sites, blog, and more! Enjoy, and remember to get the rest of your community to Speak Up through December 19th, 2014!

Our Speak Up 2014 promotional materials are now available Start spreading the word about Speak Up to your community! Check out our helpful flyers, guides, sample emails, and more at http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/promo.html.

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.

Announcing the “Speak Up America 2013” Campaign!

Since 2003, the annual Speak Up survey has collected data from students, parents, educators and the local community about technology, learning, and schools. This year over 300,000 Students, Parents and Educators representing over 5,500 schools nationwide have already participated in Speak Up. In honor of the superb survey period this year, on Monday Dec. 16th Project Tomorrow will kick off “Speak Up America 2013” a weeklong event to celebrate Speak Up participants, past, present and new! During this event there will be a daily release of Speak Up 2013 preliminary data snapshots, recognition of top participants and best of all opportunities to win free ISTE Conference registrations and a daily $500 classroom or school grant! Now’s the time to participate, Speak Up closes on December 20th! Speak Up today and all next week at http://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2013/. Below you will find all the great promotions and happenings taking place during Speak Up America 2013: National Speak Up Day – Wednesday December 18th $500 classroom or school grant Photo Challenge – Daily Free ISTE Conference registration - 2 chances to win throughout the week Speak Up 2013 Preliminary data snapshots- Daily How does your state compare? View the “Are you Speaking Up” state participant map to see where your state falls. - Daily Click here to view promotions and happenings on our website. National Speak Up Day Donate 15 minutes of your time today for the future of education! Have a voice, participate in National Speak Up Day on Wednesday, December 18, 2013! The highlight of the Speak Up America 2013 Campaign will take place onWednesday, December 18, 2013 with the launch of our first ever National Speak Up Day! National Speak Up Day is the day to encourage your community to participate. 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:www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2013 with your 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. The more surveys you get in the more opportunities you have to win a FREE ISTE CONFERENCE REGISTRATION! Every survey submitted on this date will be entered into a special drawing for not only a free ISTE conference registration for your district, but once in Atlanta, dinner is on us. Here’s your chance to pick our CEO Julie Evans’ brain on all things digital learning by joining Julie for some real Southern Cooking at Pitty Pat Porch. Photo Challenge DOWNLOAD THE SPEAK UP AMERICA BADGE HERE Educators, have your students participate in Speak Up for a chance to win a $500 grant for your classroom or school! Planning to have your class or school participate in Speak Up this week? Already had your class or school participate? Need a little incentive to get your class or school to participate? Join in on the fun and take part in our Speak Up America Photo Challenge. To celebrate technology and all our wonderful Speak Up participants we will be offering a daily $500 grant to one lucky Speak Up participating classroom or school during the week of December 16. All you need to do is take a picture with the Speak Up America 2013 Badge and post to either our Facebook, Twitter, orInstagram account with the hashtag #speakupsnapshot or by sending us an email at speakup@tomorrow.org with your photo to be entered to win. Please include an estimated number of Speak Up participants and the hashtag #speakupsnapshot in your comments! We are very sensitive to student and participants’ privacy and with that no faces are required to be in the photo. We just ask that you incorporate our special Speak Up America badge into a photo of your classroom or school, the more creative the better! See below for some examples: Other ideas: -Image of the front of your school with the Speak Up for America Badge -Photo from back of the room of students completing the survey -Group photo of teachers or school office staff who have completed the survey DOWNLOAD THE SPEAK UP AMERICA BADGE HERE Challenge Rules: There must be record of survey completion in our system, i.e. surveys taken at your school. Winners will be announced the following day You may only submit one picture per teacher or school per day (a school and multiple teachers from that school may enter on the same day, increase your chances!) A teacher or school may only win once during the photo challenge At least 25 submissions must be present for daily selection to occur, be sure to encourage others to participate. Free ISTE Conference Registrations Thanks to our good friends at ISTE, we have received two 2014 ISTE conference registrations (A $269 value) to gift to two of our Speak Up districts! The great thing is every district has an opportunity to win, all you need to do is encourage your K-12 community to participate in the survey during the Speak Up America 2013 campaign. This is a great way to reach out to different audiences that may have a lower participation number than you would like, for example a target of your K-12 parents, teachers or local community members! The more surveys you get in, the more opportunities you have to win! Your district will have two chances to snag a free registration: 1.) Get in any last minute surveys, any survey that comes in during Speak Up America 2013 campaign beginning Monday December 16, 2013 through the close of the survey on Friday, December 20, 2013 will be entered to win. We will be pulling a randomly selected survey during this timeframe and will award the free ISTE conference registration to the district the survey belongs to. 2.) Encourage participation in National Speak Up Day (12-18-13)! Every survey submitted on this date will be entered into a separate drawing for a free ISTE conference registration for your district. In addition to your free ISTE conference registration, the selected recipient attending the conference will also have the opportunity to join our CEO Julie Evans for some real Southern Cooking at Pitty Pat Porch in downtown Atlanta. Here’s your chance to pick our CEO Julie Evans’ brain on all things digital learning! Speak Up 2013 Preliminary data snapshots In celebration of our first annual Speak Up America campaign, we have pulled a special snapshot of preliminary data for students, parents, teachers, administrators and community members. Each day we will release a special infographic on NEW Speak Up findings. This is also the first time we’ve ever pulled a sampling of the Speak Up data before completion! Check below to see when we will be releasing each snapshot of data: Monday, December 16, 2013—Educators Tuesday, December 17, 2013—Parents Wednesday, December 18, 2013—Students Thursday, December 19, 2013—Administrators Friday, December 20, 2013—Community Members Speak Up Participant Map Is your state one of the top Speak Up states? Can your state do better? Check our Project Tomorrow Homepage (www.tomorrow.org) throughout the week to find out and track your state’s progress. Thank you for your interest and continued support in Speak Up! We look forward to your participation in Speak Up 2013! 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 me at jhostert@tomorrow.org or via phone at 949/609-4660 ext. 17. Jenny Hostert Speak Up Operations Manager Project Tomorrow