Project Tomorrow Announces New Plans for Speak Up 2009  

New survey for pre-service teachers and partnership with Chicago Public Schools

    
Washington, D.C. (June 29, 2009) – Project Tomorrow, the national education
nonprofit group that facilitates the annual Speak Up National Research Project,
announced today some innovative new plans for Speak Up 2009:   

* Speak Up 2009 will include online surveys for K-12 students, parents,
teachers, principals and district administrators, and for the first time, will
include a specific survey for pre-service teachers enrolled in post-secondary
degree programs in higher education schools and departments of education.  

“As we think about creating schools for the next generation of students, it is
imperative that we bring the views of the next generation of teachers into the
conversation also, explains Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow.  Through this
new Speak Up Survey for Pre-Service Teachers, we will learn first hand about
how tomorrow’s teachers are expecting to use technology for learning in a truly
21st century classroom.”

* Project Tomorrow is piloting a new Speak Up survey with Chicago Public
Schools (CPS) for their teachers that will include the national Speak Up
questions plus five (5) questions that are customized specifically to meet the
needs of CPS.
 
Understanding that all schools and districts have unique data needs, the new
“Speak Up Your Way” pilot surveys will provide a unique opportunity for
districts to gain an in-depth and personalized perspective on the views of
their stakeholders, and will provide Speak Up with an insider perspective on
the most pressing issues facing our schools.   

Project Tomorrow is also working with the State Education Technology Directors’
Association (SETDA) to identify two state departments of education for the same
pilot program.  As with CPS, the states will choose which survey group they
would like to receive the state-customized Speak Up survey – students,
teachers, parents, administrators or pre-service teachers – and then work with
the Project Tomorrow research staff to develop their bonus 5 specific
questions.    

* The Speak Up 2009 online surveys will be open from October 12th through
December 18th.  Participation in Speak Up is open to all K-12 schools and
districts, private and parochial schools, virtual and online schools charter
and magnet schools, and all schools of education.   It is anticipated that over
350,000 surveys will be submitted this year.  

There is no fee to participate in Speak Up and no limit on the number of
respondents per institution. All information is 100% confidential and the
surveys take less than 20 minutes to complete. Participating institutions will
receive in early February 2010 a free online report aggregating all local data
with national data to use for comparative benchmarking.   Plans are already in
place for many districts to use their Speak Up data to inform their ARRA
investments.   National data findings will be released in a Congressional
Briefing in spring 2010.

* Speak Up 2009 is underwritten this year by some of the nation’s most
innovative companies:  Blackboard, Inc., CDW-G, K12.com and SMART Technologies.
 In addition, SETDA is again this year a Speak Up National Outreach Partner and
the Project Tomorrow team is working closely with the SETDA staff and members
on the plans for Speak Up 2009.    

About Project Tomorrow and the Speak Up National Research Project: Speak Up is
a national initiative of Project Tomorrow (formerly known as NetDay), the
nation’s leading education nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that
today’s students are well prepared to be tomorrow’s innovators, leaders and
engaged citizens of the world. Since fall 2003, the annual Speak Up project has
collected and reported on the views of over 1.5 million K-12 students,
teachers, administrators and parents representing over 18,000 schools in all 50
states. The Speak Up data represents the largest collection of authentic,
unfiltered stakeholder input on education, technology, 21st century skills,
schools of the future and science instruction. Education, business and policy
leaders report use the data regularly to inform federal, state and local
education policies, programs and funding/investment decisions.     
For additional information, visit www.tomorrow.org.