Welcome to Speak Up!

Thank you for registering for t h e Speak Up Research Project for Digital Learning! 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 5.4 million students, educators, parents, administrators, and community members have shared their views regarding the use of educational technology through the Speak Up research tool.

Speak Up will be open for participation during academic year. Depending upon when your stakeholders participate, you can have your local data results as early as the first week of January. 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

Flyers………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….… 12-13

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

*Last Updated February 1, 2019

About Project Tomorrow

Project Tomorrow is a national education nonprofit organization, certified by the IRS and the State of California as a 501.c.3 nonprofit organization, with a 20-year history of impactingeducation. 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 by supporting the innovative uses of science, math and technology resources in our K-12 schools and communities, students will develop the critical thinking, problem solving and creativity skills needed to compete and thrive in their future. We approach our mission through national research projects, the replication of model excellence projects in schools and communities, online tools and resources for students, teachers and parents, and national and regional advocacy efforts.

To learn more about Project Tomorrow and its programs, 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 Project polls K-12 students, parents, and educators about the role of technology for learning in and out of school. Speak Up represents the largest collection of authentic, unfiltered stakeholder voices on digital learning. Since fall 2003, more than 5.4 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 policy leaders report that they regularly use the Speak Up data to inform federal, state, and local education programs.

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://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/about_SU.

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Julie EvansChief Executive Officer Phone: 949-609-4660, Ext. 15jevans@tomorrow.org Twitter

Jenny HostertSpeak Up Operations Manager Phone: 949 609-4660, Ext. 17jhostert@tomorrow.org

Contact Us

Amber TaylorDirector of Communications & CollaborationsPhone: 703-201-4893ataylor@tomorrow.org

Julianne VuProject AssistantPhone: 949 609-4660, Ext. 11j vu @tomorrow.org

Important Links

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

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

Speak Up 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

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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. Question sets consist of a series of multiple-choice questions plus open-ended question(s) (depending on the audience). In addition, on the parent and educator question sets, 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 100% 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 the first week of January, 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.

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 so we can connect you to the appropriate contact. 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. If you would like to complete your session, you can (1) start a new session and click on the “next” button until you reach the question that you left off on, or (2) request that we delete your session so that you can resubmit it. If you would like your session deleted, please email us your taken id number (found on the top left corner of the screen in red) and the name of your school, district, and state.

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 timeline with key dates as well as suggested dates to begin promoting Speak Up, send reminders to your staff, and more.

June-September Register as primary contact of your school or district. Download Speak Up promotional materials and promote to your school(s) at the beginning of the school year. 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 adding a Speak Up link to your students’ devices for their access and for their parents.

October Speak Up launches on October 15. Look out for a weekly email on Fridays with your school/district’s participation numbers. Every Monday, send a weekly reminder to your school(s) to encourage participation. Provide a link to Speak Up on your district/school website(s). Check your current participation numbers by logging in to your Speak Up administrator page .

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

will be updated on a weekly basis until the official data release in February. Encourage your teachers to participate as a class activity before Thanksgiving break – check out our lesson

plans to help facilitate the process. 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.

December Final stretch! Speak Up closes next month. Speak Up America Week will run December 10-15. 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. Unsatisfied with your participation totals? Use our sample emails to spread the word to parents and educators.

January The first set of validated reports will be released the first week of January. The January report is a mid-process

release for any organization that participated before the winter break to access their validated individual results before the close of the Speak Up period.

Speak Up Appreciation Week will run during January. Last chance to boost participation! Speak Up is open during academic year.

February February : release of Speak Up data to participating schools and districts. Check your email for instructions on

how to access your data. Share your Speak Up data with your school(s) through our PowerPoint presentation template or by posting the

data on your website.

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Instructions

Not sure how to log in to your administrator account, participate during the open period, or access your results? Follow our instructions below, orvisit https://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/speakup_tutorials.html to watch detailed videos outlining each step.

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

1. Visit speakup.tomorrow.org

Please note if you are using the new custom Speak Up district direct page, you will use your custom Speak Up URL link instead of speakup.tomorrow.org.

2. Click on the begin button.3. Select your group (e.g. students, parents, educators, community, group collection).4. Search for your school by entering your school information in the provided fields

You if your school does not come up, try using less words from your school name or less fields

5. Read the instructions and begin. Please note that Speak Up is designed to be completed in one 20-minute online session.

Unfortunately, once you exit you will not be able to log back in to your original session. Be sure to write down your taken id number (found on the top left hand side of the screen in red) in case you are unable to complete all questions and would like your entry deleted.

How to access your data results

1. Visit http s ://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/speakup_your_data.html . 2. Select Speak Up from the pull-down menu.3. Under option 1 (district results) or option 2 (school results), select your state, enter the first 10

characters of your school/district name, and enter your Speak Up administrator password.4. Select the audience type to display.5. Print the results or copy and paste them into your own file or in our Speak Up Data Excel Template .

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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.

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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.

*Please note if you are using the new custom Speak Up district direct page, you will need to edit the URL with your custom Speak Up URL link instead of using speakup.tomorrow.org.

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 Project for Digital Learning, a national initiative of 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 data in February!

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 During Academic Year

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 speakup.tomorrow.org to participate. It takes just 20 minutes to add your voice!

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Sample emails – continued

*Please note if you are using the new custom Speak Up district direct page, you will need to edit the URL with your custom Speak Up URL link instead of using speakup.tomorrow.org.

Parents

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

speakup.tomorrow.org

Be a part of the conversation! Starting on October, we will be participating in the Speak Up Research Project for Digital Learning. Speak Up is and was the first online research tool designed to help parents share their ideas directly with schools and national policymakers. Speak Up provides parents with a mechanism for expressing their views to the administrators at their child(ren)’s school and district about key issues impacting their child(ren)'s education.

Since 2003, Speak Up has collected and shared the views of more than 5.4 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 dialogue about how best to prepare students for the future.

Speak Up is open to students, educators and parents; it’s quick and easy to get involved. To participate, visit: speakup.tomorrow.org and select the Parent option.

All participation is confidential. Questions take about 20 minutes to complete.

We appreciate you taking the time to share your views with us! We need your input!

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Sample emails – continued*Please note if you are using the new custom Speak Up district direct page, you will need to edit the URL with your custom Speak Up URL link instead of using speakup.tomorrow.org.

Students

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

speakup.tomorrow.org

Your opinions matter to us! We are participating in the Speak Up research project 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: speakup.tomorrow.org

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

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

General email

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 5.4 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!

Speak Up will be open for input during academic yearspeakup.tomorrow.org

Instructions for completing Speak Up

1. Go to this link: speakup.tomorrow.org2. Click on the appropriate audience (Student, Educator, Parent, Community member).3. Follow the given instructions to access the questions. Search for your school by entering your school

information in the provided fields. If your school does not come up, try using less words from your school name or less fields.

To learn more about the project and how to get involved, visit www.tomorrow.org/speakup.

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Sample Tweets

This sample tweet list is meant to serve as a head start to promoting 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.

*Please note if you are using the new custom Speak Up district direct page, you will need to edit the URL with your custom Speak Up URL link instead of using speakup.tomorrow.org.

Before October

Our school/district has registered to be a part of a nationwide conversation about #edtech - join in today: http://bit.ly/SUhome

We are excited to participate in Speak Up! Learn all about the Speak Up research tool before it opens on 10/15: http://bit.ly/SUhome

Our school/district just registered for Speak Up! Join the conversation about the role of technology in & out of school: http://bit.ly/SUhome

We want to know what our students, parents & faculty think about tech & learning! We’ll be “speaking up” this fall! http://bit.ly/SUhome

Parents, to learn more about Speak Up before participating, see this FAQ page: http://bit.ly/PUS23q

October - January

Speak Up will be available 10/15 through 1/31! Make your voice heard about education and technology! speakup.tomorrow.org

Join us & the 5mil students, parents, teachers, & admins who have participated in Speak Up since ’03! Speak Up now: speakup.tomorrow.org

90% of students say mobile devices are important. What do our students think? Get involved with @speakuped at speakup.tomorrow.org

Provide your feedback on digital learning through Speak Up to ensure your voice is heard! speakup.tomorrow.org

Be part of the conversation! Parents: we want to hear your thoughts on tech & learning speakup.tomorrow.org

School/district your participation in Speak Up is important! Help us collect valuable data@ speakup.tomorrow.org

Last minute tweets

Only a few more days to share your views on tech & learning! Speak Up before 1/18 to make sure your voice is heard! speakup.tomorrow.org

Need a last min activity before winter break? Dedicate 15 min to theSpeak Up! speakup.tomorrow.org

Speak Up about issues regarding the use of mobile devices and tablets in schools: speakup.tomorrow.org

Don't forget to submit your feedback through Speak Up before winter break begins! Visit speakup.tomorrow.org to share your thoughts.

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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.

*Please note if you are using the new custom Speak Up district direct page, you will need to edit the URL with your custom Speak Up URL link instead of speakup.tomorrow.org.

Dear parent/educator,

We are excited to announce that [SCHOOL/DISTRICT NAME] is participating in Speak Up during academic year! 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 project 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 5.4 million students, educators and parents. All responses are 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:

1. Visit speakup.tomorrow.org 2. Select your group (e.g. parents, educators)3. Search for your school by entering your school information in the provided fields. If your school does not come

up, try using less words from your school name or less fields.4. Read the instructions and begin.

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

Sincerely,

[SPEAK UP CONTACT/APPROPRIATE CONTACT11

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