NetDay CEO Dr. Julie A.Evans visited several schools to meet the students who participated in Speak Up Day 2003. Her conversations confirmed the results in the survey and gave students another opportunity to share their views. If your school has an interesting story to tell, contact us at speakup@tomorrow.org.
Annandale High School
Fairfax County Public Schools
Annandale, Virginia
Grades 9-12
Enrollment: 2370
37% free and reduced-price lunch
16% African American
22% Asian
21% Hispanic
41% White
Annandale High School students wanted to know, “What took you so long to ask us?” Business and technology teacher Julie Healy used class time for Speak Up Day and 66 students in her honors business technology course participated. She programmed the survey into Blackboard and led activities suggested by the lesson plans. When school data became available, she shared it with students and teachers at her school.
Students were very interested in how their answers compared to the national data. They used the information to write articles for their award winning student newspaper, prepared a presentation for the school board, and talked about creating their own survey.
According to Evans, their results were a close match to the national data with some differences.
Most of the teachers are in awe that our students are that sophisticated,” said Healy. “The rest of the business department wishes they had done it. We’ll have much better response next time.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
High School
Prince Georges County Public Schools
Greenbelt, MD
Grades 9-12
Enrollment: 2928
17% free and reduced-price lunch
56% African American
10% Asian
4% Hispanic
30% White
Yvette Goslee teaches business education at Eleanor Roosevelt High School and 144 of her students completed the individual surveys during class time. She saw Speak Up Day as a unique opportunity for students to give their ideas freely and have a voice in the future of education.
Evans spoke to 12 of the students, most of them members of the Academy for Information Technology in classes that emphasize technology integration. They expressed particular interest in how they compared to other high schools around the country. They wanted to know if they were really as advanced as they thought they were. They were serious about using technology to accomplish their goals and all had access outside of school. One student ran his own web hosting business.
Roosevelt students tended to be more advanced than the average, but were similar to Annandale.
Goslee believes that other teachers “might be surprised at how much students already use technology as part of their lives and thinking process.” As the chairperson of the technology committee, Goslee plans to use the school and national data in her next technology plan. By sharing it with teachers, she hopes they will see that technology is not going away and it may be the best way to reach students.
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