Welcome to Speak Up!

Thank you for registering for t h e Speak Up Research Initiative! Speak Up is an annual research project conducted by Project Tomorrow, a national education nonprofit group that collects and reports on the views of K-12 students, teachers, administrators, and parents on education and technology. More than 5.7 million students, educators, parents, administrators, and community members have shared their views on important educational issues through the Speak Up research tool.

Speak Up will be open for participation during the entire academic year. Depending upon when your stakeholders participate, you can have your local data results as early as early-November. To help you get started with Speak Up, we’ve put together a virtual welcome packet including general information about the project, instructions for the Speak Up collection process, ideas for how you can use your data, promotional materials to help you spread the word about the project to your school(s), and more. If you are new to Speak Up , we hope this packet helps answer any questions you may have.

If you have questions about Speak Up or the contents of this packet, please contact the Speak Up team at Speakup@tomorrow.org .

Table of contents

About Project Tomorrow and Speak Up………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1

Speak Up team contact information and important links………………………………………………………………….……………. 2

General FAQ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…….. 3

Speak Up timeline…………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………….….…4

Instructions………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………………………………………….…… 5

Testimonials………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…..6

Promotional materials

Sample emails…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……… 7-9

Sample tweets………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….10

Sample introduction letter………………………………………………………………………………………………..……….……… 11

(Visit www.tomorrow.org/speakup/promo for Promotional Flyers)

*Last Updated September, 2019

About Project Tomorrow

Project Tomorrow is an international education nonprofit based in Irvine with a 23-year legacy of improving the lives of children and youth through enhanced educational opportunities. As a nonprofit organization, we are driven by an altruistic mission and vision for changing the lives of children through science, math and technology education.

The vision of Project Tomorrow is to ensure that today’s students are well prepared to be tomorrow’s innovators, leaders, and engaged citizens of the world. We believe that through the innovative uses of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) resources in our K-12 schools and communities, students will develop the critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity skills essential to compete and thrive in the 21st century. Project Tomorrow addresses this mission through national research projects, online tools and resources for students, teachers and parents, national and regional advocacy efforts and several results-oriented, market responsive initiatives that affect the lives of over 450,000 K12 students nationwide and build capacity and resiliency within our nation’s education institutions

To learn more about Project Tomorrow and its research projects, visit tomorrow.org.

About Speak Up

Speak Up is an initiative of Project Tomorrow®, the leading global education nonprofit organization dedicated to the empowerment of student voices in education. Each year, the Speak Up Research Initiative polls K-12 students, parents, and educators about key educational issues in and out of school. Speak Up represents the largest collection of feedback from education stakeholders ever assembled on digital learning. Since fall 2003, more than 5.7 million K-12 students, parents, teachers, librarians, principals, technology leaders, district administrators, and members of the community have shared their views and ideas through Speak Up. K-12 educators, higher education faculty, business, and national policymakers report that they regularly use the Speak Up findings to inform federal, state, and local education programs, funding and new initiatives in education. The Speak Up findings also inform our internal research agenda and programming goals.

In general, Speak Up has three primary objectives:

1. To provide a means for local schools and districts to easily and effectively listen to and act upon the ideas of their stakeholders.

2. To provide a conduit for the voices of education stakeholders, most notably students, to inform national and/or state/provincial policies and programs.

3. To stimulate new local discussions around the use of technology within education.

To learn more about Speak Up, visit https://tomorrow.org/speakup/about_SU.html

1

Julie EvansChief Executive Officer Phone: 949-609-4661jevans @tomorrow. org Twitter@JulieEvans_PT

Jenny HostertSpeak Up Operations Manager Phone: 949 609-4663jhostert@tomorrow.org

Contact Us

Pilar ComparanSpecial Projects Manager Phone: 949 609-4660pcomparan @tomorrow.org

General OfficePhone: 949 609-4660SpeakUp @tomorrow.org

Important Links

Project Tomorrow homepage: https://tomorrow.org/

Speak Up homepage: https://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/index.html

Speak Up registration link: speakup.tomorrow.org

Administrator login: https://speakup.tomorrow.org/AdminLogin.aspx

Promotional materials: https://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/promo.html

Speak Up Questions: https://tomorrow.org/speakup/speakup_view_questions.html

FAQs: http s ://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/faq.html

Past Speak Up data findings: https://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/speakup_data_findings.html

Speak Up Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/SpeakUpEd

Speak Up Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpeakUpEd

Project Tomorrow blog: https://blog.tomorrow.org/

Project Tomorrow newsletter: https://www.tomorrow.org/pt_news_signup.html

2

Frequently Asked Questions

When is Speak Up open?Speak Up will be open for participation during academic year.

What types of questions do you offer?There are Speak Up questions for students (grade level appropriate K-12), teachers, librarians, technology leaders, principals, district administrators, communication officers, parents, and community members. Questions for parents are available in English and Spanish.

Who is eligible to participate in Speak Up?Speak Up is open to any school, district, and organization that serves K-12 students in the United States and internationally.

Is there a cost to participate?No. Speak Up is a free service to all schools and districts.

How long does it take to complete Speak Up?Speak Up question sets should take about 20 minutes to complete. Surveys consist of a series of multiple-choice questions plus open-ended question(s) (depending on the audience). In addition, on the parent and educator surveys, we ask demographic questions that are optional; we use these responses during our data analysis to provide additional context to our national data findings.

What is your privacy policy?All responses are secure and confidential. We do not collect any identifying information from participants.Click here to view our privacy policy.

When will Speak Up data results be available?Starting in November, registered contacts will be able to access their preliminary data online. Finalized data results will be available to participants online and free of charge beginning as early as mid-November, depending on when you participate. National findings will be released in Spring through a variety of venues, including a Congressional Briefing in Washington, D.C., national and regional conferences, and through our website.

What is Project Tomorrow’s national surveying window?Data reports released by Project Tomorrow in the spring will use a national sampling of the findings based on surveys collected between September and February.

How do I retrieve my Speak Up password?You can retrieve your password by clicking the “I forgot my password” button on the administrator login page. If you are not a primary contact, please contact the Speak Up team at Speakup@tomorrow.org . For confidentiality reasons, we provide passwords to the Speak Up contact of record only.

A participant at one of our schools did not finish their session. Can we retrieve it?Unfortunately, once you exit Speak Up you will not be able to log back in to your original session. All data previously entered, will have been captured up to the page that the participant left off. Please contact the Speak Up Team if you need help retrieving or identifying a survey.

If your question is not on this list, please contact the Speak Up team with your question(s) at Speakup@tomorrow.org . 3

Speak Up Timeline

To help you plan the beginning of the school year, we’ve provided a short version of our to-do list to help you with the promoting Speak Up, send reminders to your staff, and more.

Getting Started Register as primary contact of your school or district . Schedule a planning call with the Speak Up Team or attend one of our getting started webinars. Update your account and survey settings to enhance your survey experience. Download Speak Up promotional materials and modify to meet your participation needs. Follow the Speak Up blog and sign up for our Speak Up newsletter to keep up to date with Speak Up News. For 1-to-1 schools, consider pushing out your selected survey access link through your mobile device management

(MDM) to your students’ devices for access for themselves and their parents. Set a participation timeline that fits your school calendar, remember you can choose to survey different audiences

at different times. We recommend a 2-3 week survey window for your planning.

Ongoing

Every Monday during your select participation timeline, send a weekly reminder to your school(s) to encourage participation.

Provide a link to Speak Up on your district/school website(s) or create your own custom page with our school and audience direct links found in your admin portal.

Check your current participation numbers by logging in to your Speak Up administrator page . Encourage your teachers to participate as a class activity before Thanksgiving break – check out our lesson plans

to help facilitate the process. Speak Up America Week (TBA). Any Speak Up question sets submitted during this window will increase the chance

for schools/districts to win prizes from several of our partners. Encourage your school(s) to participate before leaving for winter break. Speak Up Appreciation Week (TBA).

Data Collection Starting in November, Speak Up online results will be available for contacts to view online. These results will be

updated on a weekly basis on Saturday evenings. Utilize our sample Speak Up tweets by sharing them to your Twitter page or retweet our @SpeakUpEd tweets. Continue checking your participation counts, sending weekly reminders to your school(s), and looking out for our

weekly email messages.

Wrapping Up Unsatisfied with your participation totals? Use our sample emails to spread the word to parents and educators. Last chance to boost participation! Speak Up is open during academic year. Plan to attend Project Tomorrow’s data finding webinars and seminars offered throughout the year. Share your Speak Up data with your school(s) through our PowerPoint presentation template or by posting the

data on your website.

4

Instructions

Not sure how to log in to your administrator account, participate during the open period, or

access your results? Follow our instructions below, or schedule a demo with the Speak Up Team.

How to log in to your administrator account

1. Visit https://speakup.tomorrow.org/AdminLogin.aspx2. Click on “Admin Login” at the top of the page.3. Enter your email address.4. Enter your administrator password.

If you forgot your password, you can retrieve your password by clicking the “I forgot my password” button on the administrator login page.

How to participate

After registering and logging in to your administrative profile, primary contacts will need to select an access link for participants to use to access the survey. Access links can be found in the administrative profile under Survey Settings>Access Link.

Primary contacts have the option of using district, school or audience specific links. Each link is custom to your school or district.

Primary contacts have the option of using one or all the provided access link options to encourage participation. District and school direct links provide a one-click survey landing page for all survey audiences. School and audience direct links allow your participants to bypass school look up and audience selection and

instead start right at the beginning of their appropriate surveys. Each link is school and audience specific. These are recommended if building your own custom webpage/survey landing page on your website, pushing the link out through your Mobile Device Management (MDM) or directly targeting an audience at a specific school site for your communications.

How to access your data results

Primary contacts can access their school and district results by logging into their administrative profile and selecting the option “View Current Data Results”. This will allow primary contacts to directly access their results. Reports will automatically update every Saturday evening through the close of the survey window.

District primary contacts will have access to their overall results and each individual school results. School primary contacts will have access to their individual school results. School primary contacts will need to register their school account to access their school profile.

If you are a district primary contact and would not like to set up individual accounts with primary contacts for each school, you can give your schools access to their school reports by using our public data finding look up page. All schools will need an administrative password to access their reports, they can either use the district assigned admin password or the district primary contact may assign individual passwords to each school under Account Settings>Schools in the administrative profile.

We recommend copying and pasting results into one of our provided data templates and attending a data webinar.

5

TestimonialsNeed help convincing school leaders of the value of Speak Up participation? Not sure how to use your data once it’s released? Here are some thoughts from past Speak Up participants – to read all testimonials, visit our Speak Up in Action page at http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/speakup_in_action.html.

"A low-cost, high-reward way to approach gathering feedback for tech decision making.” – Massachusetts School District

"The data collected from the broad range of respondents is timely and targeted specifically to technology use in education. Therefore, it's a great tool for decision-makers to use for instructional, professional development and budget planning.” – California School District

“We have shared [Speak Up] data with our leadership teams, higher education partners, school based staff, and Board of Education. Every presentation for the past year has included our data and references to Speak Up and the national data.” – Maryland School District

“Speak Up data has helped garner support for 1 to 1 initiatives, increased professional development and changes in instructional best practices and expectations.” – Virginia School District

“We shared with all of our schools their data - we selected several questions that we wanted them to target and to be sure to address when they were working on their school technology plans for this year.” – Alabama School District

"Speak Up is a well-crafted set of questions that gives our district valuable information to help strategic planning.” – Wisconsin School District

"Rather than spending time preparing a research tool and compiling the data, we make use of Speak Up because it is already prepared, the data is compiled, assistance is available to help us interpret it, AND the data is compared and as a nation overall dissected for current trends in the data.” – Texas School District

“Through the years, I have used Speak Up data to help prepare the District’s strategic plan, to plan professional development, and to help shape a shared vision of how technology and core curriculum should be delivered. Data results have been referenced when planning the district's budget and prioritizing technology infrastructure and instructional technology investments. Speak Up data has been used to help craft and secure competitive grants and it has led to the consideration and creation of new courses.” – Pennsylvania School District

Feel free to share your thoughts and plans for your Speak Up data by filling out the form at the bottom of our Speak Up in Action page or by emailing the Speak Up Team at Speakup@tomorrow.org .

6

Sample Emails

Use these sample emails to quickly get the word out about Speak Up to your school(s). We’ve provided sample emails for teachers and faculty members, students, and parents, as well as general informational emails. Feel free to change the text as needed. To view our full list of sample emails, visit http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/promo.html .

District to school leaders

Subject: [ENTER DISTRICT NAME] is participating in Speak Up! Read for instructions.

Message: [ENTER DISTRICT NAME] is participating in Speak Up! Time to prepare to get the best results from your school.

The Speak Up Research Initiative, facilitated by Project Tomorrow, is both a national research project and a free service to schools and districts everywhere. Since fall 2003, Speak Up has helped education leaders include the voices of students, faculty, parents and the community in annual and long-term planning.

We’re joining more than 3,000 other districts around the country this year in taking advantage of this opportunity. Project Tomorrow provides everything you need to help make Speak Up a success: promotional materials, school-to-home messaging, infographics, social media promotions, lesson plans and more!

Speak Up will be open during academic year for student, parent, faculty and community participation. We need your help to ensure your school and our district get great valuable data!

You can find all the promotional materials and additional information here: https://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/promo.html

Please let [ENTER DISTRICT CONTACT NAME] know if you have any questions or would like to designate a different school contact for this project. [ADD DISTRICT CONTACT PERSON’S EMAIL AND PHONE]

Teachers/faculty members

[ENTER SCHOOL NAME], Speak Up!

Open [Open Date] through [Close Date]

We encourage all [ENTER SCHOOL NAME] teachers and faculty members to Speak Up about digital learning this year! Join the conversation about the use of technology for learning through Speak Up, a national research project. Not only will your views be taken into consideration by our school, they will also be included in the national and state discussions on digital learning policies, programs, and funding.

To “Speak Up” simply visit [ENTER ACCESS LINK] to participate. It takes just 20 minutes to add your voice!

7

Sample emails – continued

Parents

Parents: We want to hear your views on technology and learning!

Be a part of the conversation! We will be participating in the Speak Up Research Initiative. Speak Up is the first survey designed to help parents share their ideas directly with schools and national policymakers and will also provide [DISTRICT or SCHOOL NAME] the opportunity to learn about the unique digital learning aspirations of our teachers, students and parents. As key stakeholders, Speak Up provides parents with a mechanism for expressing their views to the administrators at their child’s school and district about key issues impacting their child’s education.

Since 2003, Speak Up has collected and shared the views of 4.5 million students, teachers, and parents from all 50 states, as well as internationally. By participating in Speak Up, parents are expressing their views to a wider audience of local, state, and national policy makers as well as the business community—and contributing to the national dialog about science, technology, and preparing students for the 21st century workforce. The online survey is open to students, educators and parents; it’s quick and easy to get involved. Please take a moment to complete the survey via the links below.

ENTER in your ACCESS LINK(S)

Option 2:

[School or District Name] is partnering with an educational nonprofit called Project Tomorrow to learn more about our schools and home technology use for learning.

This 20 minute survey is important in helping us form a more complete picture of technology use for learning in your student’s life and will help your child’s school choose the right technology for their classrooms.

All your responses are secure and confidential to protect your privacy. The last day to complete this survey is [Date].

ENTER in your ACCESS LINK(S)

Students

Students: Speak Up – Your ideas are important to us!

Your opinions matter to us! We are participating in the Speak Up research Initiative so we can learn more about how you are using technology to learn – in and out of school. We’d like to know more about how you would like to use technology to learn and how you would like your teachers to use technology class.

To participate, visit: [ENTER ACCESS LINK(S) HERE]

We’d also like to hear from your parents, so please share the link with them as well!

All responses are secure and confidential and will inform the work of our school and district.

8

Sample emails – continued

General emailOption 1: Subject: Help us collect valuable data for our school by participating in Speak Up

Join the conversation about the use of technology for learning through Speak Up! Since 2003, more than 5.7 million K-12 education stakeholders have participated in the annual online project. Data findings are shared each year with federal, state and local policymakers to inform education programs, policies and funding.

Data will be used locally to inform our technology and professional development planning, so we need to hear from all of our stakeholders – faculty, parents, students and the community! This survey should take about 15-20 minutes to complete. The survey will be open from [open date] to [close date]. Thank you for your participation!

[ENTER ACCESS LINK]

Option 2: The Speak Up Research Initiative [Audience] survey, facilitated by Project Tomorrow, gives our students, parents, and faculty the opportunity to share their viewpoints on education at their school. By participating today, you are helping ensure that your voice is heard as we continue to grow and improve our schools.

Please complete the survey linked below which will provide the [school or district] team with insight on methods to important learning outcomes for all students. This survey should take about 15-20 minutes to complete. The survey will be open from [open date] to [close date]. Thank you for your participation!

[ENTER ACCESS LINK]

Option 3:[District or School Name] is participating in the Speak Up Research Initiative, facilitated by Project Tomorrow. Speak Up is a survey designed to help students, parents, educators, and community members share their ideas directly with schools and national policymakers. The brief online survey is open to students, educators, parents, and community members through [YOUR SELECT SURVEY WINDOW]. Visit [ACCESS LINK] to take the survey.

Option 4:Annually, [DISTRICT/SCHOOL NAME] seeks feedback from teachers, students, and parents to help us improve learning for all students.

[DISTRICT OR SCHOOL NAME] is participating in the Speak Up Research Initiative. Since 2003, over 5 million K-12 parents, teachers, and students have shared their ideas about education technology through the Speak Up online surveys and we need your ideas too. The survey is free to us and will be used to help us plan for the future so we need to hear from all of our teachers, students, and parents.

The survey is open [YOUR SELECTED SURVEY WINDOW]

Instructions for completing the Speak Up survey:

1. Go to [SELECTED ACCESS LINK]2. Select your school. 3 Select your survey type and begin the survey.

The survey consists of mostly multiple choice items and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. Please join the conversation about the use of technology for learning! To learn more about the project, visit Project Tomorrow. Thank you for your input on improving technology education for all [DISTRICT or SCHOOL NAME] students.

9

Sample Tweets

This sample tweet list is meant to serve as a head start to promote Speak Up via Twitter, Facebook, or other social media. Fill in your school or district name in the highlighted areas, and feel free to use or customize these tweets to share your school/district’s involvement in the nationwide conversation about technology and education and to encourage others to do the same! We will share additional social media updates throughout the open period.

Announcement Tweet:

Our school/district has registered to be a part of a nationwide conversation about #edtech - join in today [ACCESS LINK]

We are excited to participate in Speak Up! Learn all about the Speak Up research tool [ACCESS LINK] Our school/district just registered for Speak Up! Join the conversation about the role of technology in &

out of school: [ACCESS LINK] We want to know what our students, parents & faculty think about tech & learning! We’ll be “speaking

up” this fall! [ACCESS LINK] Parents, to learn more about Speak Up before participating, see this FAQ page:

https://tomorrow.org/speakup/faq.html

Getting Started:

Speak Up will be available [Insert your timeline here]! Make your voice heard about education and technology! [Enter ACCESS link]

Join us & the 5mil students, parents, teachers, & admins who have participated in Speak Up since ’03! Speak Up now: [Enter ACCESS link]

90% of students say mobile devices are important. What do our students think? Get involved with @speakuped and participate [Enter ACCESS link]

Provide your feedback on digital learning through Speak Up to ensure your voice is heard! [Enter ACCESS link]

Be part of the conversation! Parents: we want to hear your thoughts on tech & learning [Enter ACCESS link]

School/district your participation in Speak Up is important! Help us collect valuable data [Enter ACCESS link]

Wrapping up tweets

Only a few more days to share your views on tech & learning! Speak Up before [Enter deadline] to make sure your voice is heard! [Enter ACCESS link]

Speak Up about issues regarding the use of mobile devices and tablets in schools: [Enter ACCESS link]

Don't forget to submit your feedback through Speak Up before winter break begins! Visit [Enter ACCESS link]to share your thoughts.

10

Introduction Letter

To help your school/district get familiar with Speak Up, send this letter to parents and faculty members. We’ve highlighted the areas where you’ll need to fill in your own information. Feel free to edit the text as needed.

Dear parent/educator,

We are excited to announce that [SCHOOL/DISTRICT NAME] is participating in the Speak Up Research Initiative! Speak Up will help us answer questions, such as:

How are our students using technology for learning in and out of school?

How important are the use of technology to our teachers and parents? What types of technology would our teachers like and how would they use it in the classroom?

Do our ideas about technology align with our students’ parents?

Speak Up, a national research initiative facilitated by Project Tomorrow, provides an easy way for students, parents, and educators to share their views on technology and learning with [SCHOOL/DISTRICT NAME]. Your input informs our decisions about technology, as well as contribute to the national dialogue about educational technology. Since 2003, Project Tomorrow has collected and shared the viewpoints of more than 5.7 million students, educators and parents. All responses are secure and confidential. No identifying information is collected about/from any participant.

As a nonprofit educational organization, Project Tomorrow provides Speak Up as a free tool for all schools to use – allowing us to conduct this research while also keeping our resources focused in the classrooms.

[SCHOOL/DISTRICT NAME] receives our results with state and national comparisons, providing us with valuable data that can be used for our strategic planning, professional development and budgeting plans during the school year.

Participation is easy!

Follow these instructions to participate: [varies based on access link selected – district direct link instructions below]

1. Visit [Enter school/district link]2. Select your school name.3. Select your group (e.g. parents, educators)4. Read the instructions and begin.

We look forward to [SCHOOL/DISTRICT NAME]’s strong participation in Speak Up! Be sure to participate by [SELECT SURVEY CLOSE DATE]. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact [SPEAK UP DISTRICT/SCHOOL CONTACT].

Sincerely,

[SPEAK UP CONTACT/APPROPRIATE CONTACT

11