National Speak Up Study Released on Capitol Hill: Data Shows Lack of Technology in K-12 Classrooms Limits Access to Educational Resources & Discourages Student Engagement

WASHINGTON, March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- A national survey of more than 368,000 K-12 students, parents, teachers and administrators documents the increasingly significant digital disconnect between the values and aspirations of students about how technology can improve the learning process and student outcomes, and the practices of teachers and administrators who are less comfortable with using technology in the classroom.  The findings of the 2009 Speak Up Survey, conducted by Project Tomorrow and sponsored by Schoolwires, are being presented today at the first of two congressional briefings in Washington, DC.

In response to this digital disconnect, according to the report, "K-12 students are increasingly taking responsibility for their own learning, defining their own education path through alternative sources, and feeling not just a right but a responsibility for creating personalized learning experiences."

Significant findings illustrated within the research report include:

• Schools place constraints on students' use of social collaboration tools within the schools, and students are not waiting for schools to provide the tools for their use.
• While students are actively developing social-based learning skills outside of school, many schools are not taking advantage of either the tools or the students' knowledge about how to effectively use these tools within the classroom.
• Students are leveraging a wide range of technology-enabled communications and collaboration tools to build a personalized network of experts to create a more relevant learning environment for themselves.
• Only 20% of parents correlate social collaborative tools to student achievement; however 60% of parents value the districts' websites as their top choice for driving student achievement.

Further, "As a result of the acceptance by parents of the value of the school website, these portals have a significant potential to be the forum for enhanced home-to-school communications and collaborations with the inclusion of some of the Web 2.0 tools already used by the students and parents," according to the report.

"Schoolwires has always strongly believed – and in fact was founded on the belief – that an interactive and richly-populated website contributes significantly to student achievement and to parent and community engagement," said Edward S. Marflak, founder and CEO of Schoolwires. "And we have evolved and expanded our website platform to address the critical disconnects cited by the survey. We have created a safe, secure and comprehensive community management platform that allows teachers and districts to easily use the same technology and skills as their young learners for social-based learning in order to keep their teaching relevant and students engaged, as well as leverage interactive technologies to foster the support of the community for district initiatives.

Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow, is presenting the findings of the National Speak Up survey at the congressional briefing. Karen Cator, Director of the Office of Education Technology in the US Department of Education, will also make remarks.

"If we are serious – and we are – about getting many more kids over a much higher bar, we have to transform our schools and empower teachers and students with the best possible technology of the day," said Cator. "Learning from districts about how they are using technology at the school and classroom levels is incredibly important – as we see technology offering unique opportunities to invigorate and inspire teachers and students."

Evans and Cator will be joined by teachers and students from Garnet Valley School District, a proficient user of the Schoolwires Centricity strategic website and community management platform. Garnet Valley was invited to present at the congressional briefing because of its recognition as a national leader in technology by Project Tomorrow.

The Speak Up data represents the largest collection of authentic, unfiltered stakeholder input on education, technology,  21st century skills, schools of the future and math and science instruction.

As an underwriter of the project, Schoolwires provides input into the survey questions and gains advance access to the results. Schoolwires uses the data from the survey to help ensure that the company is creating solutions that meet the current and future technology needs of districts to build stronger school communities, more effective schools and greater student success.

About Project Tomorrow

Project Tomorrow is a national education nonprofit organization. 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. The organization believes that by supporting the innovative uses of science, math and technology resources in K-12 schools and communities, students will develop the critical thinking, problem solving and creativity skills needed to compete and thrive in the 21st century.  Project Tomorrow approaches its mission through national research projects such as the Speak Up National Research Project, 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. For more information, visit www.tomorrow.org

About Schoolwires, Inc.  

Schoolwires Inc. (www.schoolwires.com) is headquartered in State College, Pennsylvania, USA.

Schoolwires provides strategic online communication, community-management and productivity solutions to the K-12 education market. The company's core product is Centricity™, which brings together robust and flexible website management, community management and web 2.0/social network capabilities in a single, user-centric solution. Schoolwires also delivers Schoolwires Synergy™, a digital file sharing solution, Schoolwires Assist™, a service request solution, and Schoolwires Share, an exclusive online client community and support center. Schoolwires works with nearly 1,200 districts, over 5,000 schools and an estimated 5 million users across the nation.

Schoolwires is recognized by Inc magazine as one of the top ten fastest growing private education companies across the nation for three consecutive years. Schoolwires ranks in the Inc. 500|5000 as the 605th fastest growing private companies after achieving Inc. 500 status overall for the previous two consecutive years.

SOURCE Schoolwires, Inc.