Data and Discussion Guides
Parents and administrators agree on the value of technology to help students develop greater college and career readiness
How to get students ready for world of work?
District Administrators say:
83% of parents say that the effective use of technology within school is important to their children's future success
48% say it’s extremely important!
Workplace skills & development - according to parents and community members
Most Important Skills
| Creativity | Critical thinking | Communications | Collaboration | Technology | Working with diverse groups | |
| Parent | 74% | 87% | 63% | 77% | 73% | 76% |
| Community member | 67% | 79% | 54% | 69% | 60% | 75% |
Best Way to Develop Skills
| Get work experience | Use tech in school | Be a school leader | Be on a sports/academic team | Work on group project | |
| Parent | 78% | 66% | 63% | 66% | 59% |
| Communit member | 75% | 52% | 57% | 51% | 49% |
Students' attitudes about learning and their future
Students in grades 6-8
67% Like learning how to do things
58% Like learning how to build things
56% Like learning new ideas
45% Wish my classes were more interesting
42% Say knowing how to use technology is important for my future
Changing expectations for how students want to explore careers
Declining interest in:
Going to summer camp (31%)
Participating in after school programs (33%)
Career task competitions (27%)
Increasing interest in:
Getting real life experience (like an part-time job/internship) (66%)
Watching videos about different jobs (36%)
Playing online games about a career (38%)
SOURCE: Speak Up 2017 Research Project Findings - the results of the authentic, unfiltered views of over 400,000 K-12 students, parents, educators and community nationwide, collected from October 2017 to January 2018. Speak Up is an annual research initiative of Project Tomorrow. Learn more about Speak Up and other research findings from Project Tomorrow at tomorrow.org.
