Speak Up 2008 Selected National Findings

"Since 2003, the Speak Up National Research Project has collected and shared the ideas and views of more than 1.5 million K–12 students, teachers, parents and administrators on education and technology. This dataset provides national education leaders and policy makers with the largest collection of authentic, unfiltered stakeholder feedback to inform annual policy, programs and funding. However, the most significant impact is in the schools and districts that regularly use Speak Up as a guide for planning technology use, investments and implementation strategies within their community. This year, with the historic education stimulus funding, the ideas and views of our K–12 students and use of the Speak Up data is more important than ever.... Speak Up 2008 represents the voices of more than 281,000 K–12 students from schools and communities in all 50 states; their ideas provide unique insights into how we invest these historic stimulus funds in our schools to create our next generation of innovators, leaders and engaged citizens."

Among the findings, "students consistently report they are inhibited from effectively using computers or the Internet at school." On a separate topic, "only 17 percent of middle school students and 21 percent of high school students say they are very interested in pursuing a career in a STEM field. However, an additional cohort of middle and high school students say they might be interested in a STEM career if they knew more about it."