Julie Evans, NetDay, (949) 609-4660, Julie@netday.org

Irene Spero (301) 529-2731, irene@netday.org

“Speak Up-Meet Up!” will bring together schools and school districts that have actively participated in the Speak Up surveys over the last three years to exchange ideas and share success stories.  Participants in this first ever meeting of Speak Up participants will:  

• Learn about the ways in which schools and school districts are using data from the Speak Up surveys to inform and change policy.

• Meet representatives from the “Speak Up 100 Schools” identified, recognized and honored for effectively leveraging student ideas to drive innovation in education technology.

• Find out about plans for Speak Up 2006 surveying students, teachers and parents on science, math, technology, and 21st century workforce skills.

Now in its 4th year, NetDay Speak Up's national online survey invites students, teachers, and parents from around the country to share their input in an online survey. This is an opportunity for students, teachers and parents to participate in the national dialog about science, math, technology, and 21st century workforce skills.

Registration for Speak Up 2006 is now open at www.netday.org/speakup.  The surveys will be open starting November 1 and will remain open for student, teacher and parent input for approximately one month

Wednesday, November 8 from 2:30 to 3:30 PM

National School Boards Association T+L 2 Conference
Dallas (TX) Convention Center – Room A301 (Press Room)

NetDay Speak Up is a national online research project to collect and report on
views of K-12 students, teachers and parents about science, math, technology and
21st century education.  Over the past three years, the annual online survey event
has collected the views and ideas of over 562,000 K-12 students and over 26,000
teachers representing 7,000 schools from all 50 states, the District of Columbia,
 Puerto Rico and American schools on US military bases worldwide. 

The Speak Up data represents the largest compilation of authentic, unfiltered stakeholder input on education and technology and is used regularly by education, business and policy leaders to inform federal, state and local programs on education.  Every school that participates in the Speak Up surveys gain exclusive access to their own aggregated student and teacher data to drive technology budgeting and purchasing, curriculum planning, teacher training and community outreach activities.

For the first time, the national research project will include a survey especially designed to collect feedback from parents about their views and ideas on science and math education, technology use in school and preparing their children to compete in a global economy.  Speak Up is the first national research project to collect and compare student, teacher and parent views on education.

Speak Up 2006 has been made possible this year by the generous support of the BellSouth Foundation, Dell, Inc., the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and Advanced Network & Services.