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Topics in This Issue
01. The Road to Charlotte...
02. Inside TIDE Becomes STEM Connections
03. More Opportunities for Social/Professional Networking!
04. K–12 Engineering Standards
05. ITEA Contributes to National Technological Literacy Assessment
06. ITEA Fellow to Speak at ICTE
07. "Back to School" Shopping for Teachers!
08. TECC Expands Web Offerings
09. Children's Engineering Goes Green
10. ITEA Members on the Go!
11. NCSU Snippet
12. Design Squad Online Training
13. Green Events on the Mall
14. Engineers Week 2010
15. Educational Testing Service Releases New Publication
16. Looking for Resources to Make Your Classroom "The Place to Be"?
17. Children Design Wind Power Units for Their Schools' Gardens
18. Announcing JASON's New Energy Curriculum
19. Lutron's Bright Green Dream Contest Extended
20. Preservation as Provocation: Rethinking Kahn's Salk Institute
21. NASA Education Updates
22. National Education Accountability Requires Overhaul
23. From NSTA Express: Week of July 13, 2009
24. Light Source of the Future?
25. Speak Up!
26. JETS/AbilityOne National Engineering Design Challenge

Make plans now to join your colleagues in March, 2010. And don't forget to apply early for funding assistance. See the article at www.iteea.org/Conference/funding.htm. For full conference information, visit www.iteea.org/Conference/conferenceguide.htm.

Inside TIDE Becomes STEM Connections

ITEA’s regularly distributed electronic newsletter, Inside TIDE, will undergo a name change beginning in September. The new name, STEM Connections, was selected in an attempt to highlight the importance of all aspects of a STEM Education for all students. ITEA believes that schools must include technology and engineering education in order to fully prepare today’s students for the 21st Century workplace. Look for STEM Connections in September.

More Opportunities for Social/Professional Networking!

ITEA has established a presence in the world of social and professional networking in order to help its members to build online communities of people who share their interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. These network services are web-based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as email and instant messaging services. Social networking has encouraged new ways to communicate and share information. Social networking websites are being used regularly by millions of people.

• IdeaGarden Listserv – real-time dialogue pertaining to programs, events, research, knowledge, and resources.
• Linked in – an interconnected network of experienced professionals from around the world. ITEA has established a Group on Linked in.
• Facebook – build and verify online social networks for communities of people who share interests and activities. ITEA has a Facebook Page (ITEA STEM) and has created three Facebook Groups for ITEA Members: “ITEA Young Professionals,” “ITEA Classroom Professionals,” and “ITEA University Professionals."
• ITEA Blog – delivers timely news and commentary on subjects pertaining to technological literacy. Utilizes text, images, and links to other sources.
• Twitter – a real-time short messaging service. All around the world, people follow sources relevant to them and access information via Twitter as it happens.

For more information about each of these opportunities, visit ITEA’s newly redesigned Networking page at:
www.iteea.org/Networking/networking.htm.

K–12 Engineering Stardards

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is conducting a project designed to determine if there should be K-12 Engineering Standards. ITEA Member, Greg Pearson of NAE, is the Project Director of this initiative and has been conducting research. One step in his research has been a two-day meeting to gather input from outside sources to be used as background information for the report.

Kendall N. Starkweather, ITEA Executive Director/CEO, made a presentation on “Issues of Standards for K-12 Engineering Education” to the assembled group. Starkweather’s presentation centered on the following five questions:

1. What prompted ITEA to add engineering-related content to its standards?
2. How has the engineering content influenced teachers, curriculum developers, and state standards and assessments?
3. What have been the successes and shortcomings to date in implementation?
4. How should the committee view the ITEA standards as it considers the value of K-12 engineering standards?
5. What other advice would you give the committee?

Starkweather’s PowerPoint presentation is available from ITEA upon request.

The NAE project final report will be available towards the end of the year. For more information about the NAE project, please go to NAE’s website at www.nae.edu/.

ITEA Contributes to National Technological Literacy Assessment

During the summer months ITEA members have been a part of a select panel that has been working on the framework to build a national assessment for technological literacy. The project is being conducted through the National Assessment of Educational Progress work and with the National Assessment Governing Board that are part of the U.S. Department of Education.

The framework is being built by the Steering and Planning Committees that contain members from the technology and engineering communities. ITEA members who are a part of the Planning Committee include:  William Dugger, DTE, Maurice Frasier, and Marlene Scott. ITEA members of the Steering Committee include: Phillilp Scott Bevins, Rodger Bybee, Johnny Moye, Williard Nott, Greg Pearson, Andrea Prejean, Yvonne Spicer, and Kendall N. Starkweather, DTE.

This framework will be the basis for a national assessment probe that will start in the year 2012 and will continue until 2022. Technological literacy has been divided into three major areas for purposes of this work. Those areas include information and communication technology, design and systems, and technology and society. The framework portion is scheduled to be completed in the fall. More information can be found on the NAEP website at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/.

Photo source: Wikimedia Commons: Tsubasa

ITEA Fellow to Speak at ICTE

The International Conference on Technology Education in the Asia-Pacific Region (ICTE) is a biennial international conference promoting the communication and academic exchange on Technology Education.  ICTE 2009 will be held November 11-13, 2009 at the National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan (www.ite.ntnu.edu.tw./~icte2009/). The first conference was held in Otsu, Japan in 1995. Successive conferences were held in Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China in 1997; Canberra, Australia in 2000; Daejeon, Korea in 2001; Hamilton, New Zealand in 2003; Hong Kong in 2006, and San Antonio, USA in 2007 respectively. Over the past 13 years, the conference has provided opportunities for academicians and technology education professionals to interact with members inside and outside their own particular disciplines.

ICTE 2009 encompasses a three-day program with participants mainly from Japan, New Zealand, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Hong Kong, and the USA. During the main conference, scholarly exchange will take a variety of forms, including keynote speech and invited speaker addresses, paper presentations, and panel discussions. William E. Dugger, DTE, ITEA Senior Fellow, will be ITEA's Representative at the ICTE conference. He will deliver the address on the State of Technology Education in the United States.

TECC Expands Web Offerings

Children’s Engineering Goes Green

ITEA Members on the Go!

ITEA congratulates the following members for their recent achievements!

Moving Up

• Ray Diez has become Chair of the Engineering & Technology Department at Western Illinois University. He was formerly at the University of North Dakota.
• Thomas P. Bell, DTE of Millersville University, has become a Regional Director of the Epsilon Phi Tau Honorary Fraternity.
• Jim Boe is now Chair of the Technology Department at Valley City State University.
• Don Mugan, the previous chair at Valley City State, is now a head of the university’s STEM grant.

HI-TEC 2009 Industry Recognition Award Presented to ITEA Member

Bart Aslin, director of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Education Foundation (http://www.smeef.org/), is this year’s recipient of the HI-TEC Industry Recognition Award, presented July 21, 2009 at the High Impact Technology Exchange Conference (HI-TEC) in Scottsdale, Arizona. The HI-TEC Industry Recognition Award recognizes key industry personnel for outstanding contributions to promote technology education and career awareness. Nominees for the award must have demonstrated impact on technology education on both a local and national level.

This award represents HI-TEC’s commitment to recognize industry colleagues who make significant contributions to the education and training of today’s technology workforce. The High Impact Technology Exchange Conference (www.highimpact-tec.org) is produced by a consortium of National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education centers and projects and is supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and contributions from corporate and industry partners such as Intel.

About the SME Education Foundation:
The SME Education Foundation is committed to inspiring, supporting and preparing the next generation of manufacturing engineers and technologists in the advancement of manufacturing education. Created by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers in 1979, the SME Education Foundation has provided more than $29 million since 1980 in grants, scholarships, and awards through its partnerships with corporations, organizations, foundations, and individual donors. Visit www.smeef.org and the award-winning website, Manufacturing is Cool!

Photo source: Wikimedia Commons: Haruhide000

NCSU Snippet

The department at North Carolina State University (NCSU) has changed its name to Technology, Engineering & Design Education. http://ncsu.edu/

Design Squad Online Training

NASA and DESIGN SQUAD have developed an online workshop for educators and after-school leaders. Experience the design process in action through this free, self-guided tool! Watch an activity session from start to finish. Learn questions you can ask to guide kids through the design process and to strengthen their critical-thinking skills. Check out the online workshop at: www.pbs.org/designsquad/parentseducators/workshop.

Photo source: Wikimedia Commons: Marshman

Green Events on the Mall

The EPA’s National Design Expo and P3 Sustainable Design Challenge will celebrate its 6th year in April 2010 in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and the 40th anniversary celebration of the founding of the EPA. The celebration will last for three days on the National Mall in Washington, DC, and local school groups are invited to attend, visit the student design challenge tent, and meet with engineers, scientists, and business leaders who are working to develop innovations designed to advance economic growth while reducing environmental impact. The Beyond Benign Foundation will also be hosting a “Classroom on the Mall” at which you can schedule hands-on activities designed specifically for your students in order to turn this experience into a standards-based field trip that you can take back to the classroom. Save the date now and reserve a school bus for April 19, 2010. You won’t want your students to miss this opportunity. Find out more about the National Sustainable Design Expo and the P3 Sustainable Design Challenge at www.epa.gov/P3/. For more information about the Classroom on the Mall and to make a reservation for your class trip, please visit www.p3expo.com/index.html.

Engineers Week 2010

ITEA will again partner with the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) for Engineers Week – February 14-20, 2010. National Engineers Week, founded in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers, is a formal coalition of more than 70 engineering, education, and cultural societies and more than 50 corporations and government agencies. Dedicated to raising public awareness of engineers’ positive contributions to quality of life, Engineers Week promotes recognition among parents, teachers, and students of the importance of a technical education and high level of math, science, and technological literacy, and motivates youth to pursue engineering careers in order to provide a diverse and vigorous engineering workforce.

Engineers Week headquarters prepares and distributes a variety of support materials for local Engineers Week programs. Products include student guidance materials, “how-to” instructions, promotional materials such as buttons and caps, a variety of DVDs and video products, and each year, a new graphic/poster to inspire excitement and pride in the engineering profession. Free kits and other products are available at www.eweek.org.

Educational Testing Service Releases New Publication

The Educational Testing Service recently held a news conference pertaining to working with other key groups to develop national education standards. In conjunction with the news conference, they released a publication titled National Education Standards: Getting Beneath the Surface. This publication gives a stated need for national standards, creating a standards system, and getting more out of the current national efforts. This movement is being adopted in part by the current Department of Education. No strict timelines have been established. However, it is known that language and mathematics will be the first two sets of standards developed. It is anticipated that it will take a few years to get these standards in practice. The standards are to be more streamlined than those that currently in existence.

More information is available by emailing mediacontacts@ets.org.

Looking for Resources to Make Your Classroom “The Place to Be”?

Check out the dozens listed in the summer issue of the Indiana Tech Flash: http://www.doe.in.gov/octe/technologyed/pdf/IndianaTechFlash-2009-summer.pdf

Children Design Wind Power Units for Their Schools' Gardens

Motorola Foundation recently awarded a $50,000 grant to REAL School Gardens (www.realschoolgardens.org/en/), a nonprofit organization that works with urban schools across North Texas to design and install learning gardens. The grant will fund a yearlong initiative for children focused on hands-on exploration and the use of alternative energy sources, specifically wind power, in school gardens.

An estimated 920 children will also conduct research, design and build wind turbine blades, and conduct solar experiments outdoors in their schools’ gardens. The wind power and solar energy projects will be designed to generate enough voltage to power the gardens’ water pumps.

The gardens are located in 57 elementary schools across several school districts, including Fort Worth, Birdville, and Arlington. The project will directly involve a core group of 40 classrooms in Grades 3 through 6. It will also involve professional development for REAL School Gardens’ network of 1,400 teachers, including an all-day workshop August 6 entitled “Question the System: Exploring Alternative Energy in the Outdoor Classroom.”

The grant will enable teachers, students, and community experts to focus attention on the growing wind power industry in Texas, giving the students an immediate understanding of the project’s relevance. The Motorola Foundation’s Innovation Generation grants support programs that engage students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to build the confidence and skills they need for success both now and in the future.

Announcing JASON's New Energy Curriculum

JASON's new energy curriculum unit for Grades 5-8, Operation: Infinite Potential, is now launched!

Working alongside leading scientists, students explore the challenges of energy generation, storage, and consumption. Through research articles, inquiry-based activities, videos, games, and other multimedia, they investigate and analyze emerging technologies designed to meet the needs of an energy-hungry planet.

Learn more about Operation: Infinite Potential: www.jason.org/public/feature/FeatureDetail.aspx?pos=1&fid=144
Order Operation: Infinite Potential now at www.jason.org/PublicPage/Products/curriculum.aspx
Download free PDF version at www.jason.org/PublicPage/Curriculum/Download.aspx

Operation: Infinite Potential, along with all of JASON's recent curricula, is available free to teachers, students, and parents everywhere. To get started, simply register for a free JASON Mission Center account at www.jason.org/public/registration/registration.aspx?bhcp=1. Already registered? Log-in to explore Operation: Infinite Potential now! (www.jason.org/Public/login.aspx?bhcp=1)

Lutron's Bright Green Dream Contest Extended

Lutron Electronics has extended the deadline for its 2009 Bright Green Dream School Sustainability Challenge until October 12, 2009. The Grand Prize winner will be announced at the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in November 2009.

Schools are asked to challenge students to dream of a sustainable classroom of the future. Hosted by Lutron Electronics Co., Inc., the world leader in the design and manufacture of energy-efficient lighting control products, the challenge asks students to:

• Dream of a more energy-efficient, sustainable classroom environment.
• Show how educators can use that environment to teach students about sustainable living.
• Determine how students can take that message to a broader community.

The winning idea will receive a $15,000 sustainable classroom upgrade to make their Bright Green Dream come true. Learn more about it at www.greenovationnation.com/dream.

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons

Preservation as Provocation: Rethinking Kahn’s Salk Institute

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) has announced the winners of the “Preservation as Provocation: Re-Thinking Kahn’s Salk Institute” International Student Design Competition. Administered by ACSA and sponsored by The American Institute of Architects, Historic Resources Committee (AIA HRC – www.aia.org/practicing/groups/kc/AIAS075441), the program challenged students to envision the preservation of Louis H. Kahn’s Salk Institute while rethinking current conventions about composition, construction, and building performance. The goal was to envision a new type of facility that would be unimaginable without the existing structures.

The jurors were impressed by the overall quality of the submissions and agreed that the challenge of designing and building in the context of an iconic building of the 20th century represents a worthy endeavor. The winning projects will be on display in March 2010 at the ACSA Annual Meeting in New Orleans (www.acsa-arch.org/conferences/Annual2010.aspx), and in June 2010 at the American Institute of Architects National Convention in Miami (www.aiaconvention.com/live/61/). In addition, the projects will be published in an online Competition Summary Website in fall 2009. Read all about it at http://acsa-arch.org/competitions/hrc2008-09.html.

NASA Education Updates

• New Do-It-Yourself Podcast on Rocket Evolution
  In time for the 40th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, NASA Education offers a new DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Podcast topic module entitled Rocket Evolution. Students can mix NASA multimedia with their own video and narration to tell the story of space transportation and exploration. To learn more and to start making podcasts, visit www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/diypodcast/index.html.
  
  
• NASA Education Invites Students to Drop Everything!
  NASA's Dropping In a Microgravity Environment, or DIME, allows students in high school and middle school to design and build an experiment that will be operated in a NASA research drop tower. This will put the students' experiment in microgravity, just as if it were in space. New for school year 2009-10 will be a two-part DIME with separate competitions for high school teams and teams of students in Grades 6-9. Proposals are due on November 2, 2009. For more information about this opportunity, visit http://spaceflightsystems.grc.nasa.gov/DIME.html. If you have questions about this opportunity, please email your inquiries to the DIME team at dime@lists.nasa.gov.
  
  
• NASA Announces the Waste Limitation Management and Recycling Design Challenge
  Students in Grades 5-8 can join the Waste Limitation Management and Recycling Design Challenge and create a Sustainable Water Recycling System for the moon. Teams of up to six students will design a water recycling system for the unique environment of the moon. Teams will then test their system on a simulated wastewater stream and report results to NASA in February 2010. The winning team will earn a trip to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Entries are due February 1, 2010. For more information and contest rules: http://wlmr.nasa.gov/. Questions about the challenge? Contact Jay Garland at Jay.L.Garland@nasa.gov.
  
  
• “Capture the Colorful Cosmos” Astrophotography Project
  Students, teachers, individuals, and families can “Capture the Colorful Cosmos” this summer. From July through September, participants can use MicroObservatory, an online network of robotic telescopes controlled over the Internet. NASA and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics invite the community to share views of the universe in this exciting astrophotography project. Anyone with an email address can use the MicroObservatory robotic telescopes to request electronic images of astronomical objects. Participants 13 or younger will need a parent or guardian to enter their photos for them. Photos can be taken all summer long. Images must be submitted by September 30, 2009, to participate in the project. Select photos from the project will be featured on the NASA and International Year of Astronomy websites beginning on Labor Day. For more information, visit www.cfa.harvard.edu/seuforum/iyacosmos/individual.htm.
  
  
• Register Today for NASA Education Workshops Taking Place This Summer!
  Hands-on Astronomy and Earth-science Education Workshops for Grade 4-12 Teachers
  A weekend of hands-on workshops and informative science talks will be offered as part of the 120th anniversary meeting of the nonprofit Astronomical Society of the Pacific. These workshops will take place September 12-13, 2009, at the Westin Hotel near the San Francisco Airport in Millbrae, California. The program will include space science and earth science workshops for educators of Grades 4 through 12 as well as sessions for educators who work in informal settings. Only a limited number of spaces will be available, and, thanks to conference supporters, registration for each day of the workshop will be only $39. Thanks to the support of the Spitzer Space Telescope Science Center, a limited number of travel-support scholarships (of up to $300 per person) will be made available for educators. For more information, visit www.astrosociety.org/events/2009mtg/workshops.html.
  
  
• Chandra’s First Decade of Discovery Symposium
  Registration is now open for the Chandra’s First Decade of Discovery Symposium September 21-25, 2009 in Boston, MA. This event will highlight key science results from the first 10 years of operation of the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The registration deadline is September 4, 2009. For more information about the Chandra’s First Decade of Discovery Symposium, visit http://cxc.harvard.edu/symposium_2009/. Please email any questions about this conference to tenyears@head.cfa.harvard.edu.
  
  
• Solar System Ambassador Events for Summer 2009
  Summer is heating up with presentations by NASA Solar System Ambassadors at local venues—libraries, schools, state parks, museums and more—across the U.S. Themes planned for these public events include "Mars: Missions and Mysteries," "Galaxies, Nebulas, and Stars in the Universe," "Astronomy at the Beach 2009," "A Journey Through the Cosmos," and "Lunar Landing Anniversary/Star Navigation." Solar System Ambassadors is a public outreach program designed to work with motivated volunteers across the nation. Ambassadors are space enthusiasts from various walks of life who are interested in providing greater service and inspiration to the community at large. In 50 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico, close to 500 Ambassadors are now bringing the excitement of space science and exploration to the public in their local communities. For more information and a calendar of upcoming events, visit www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/events.html. Questions about the Solar System Ambassadors program can be emailed to ambassadors@jpl.nasa.gov.
  
  
• NASA’s Office of Education Accepting Proposals for K-12 Cooperative Agreements Notice
  The NASA Office of Education has released a Cooperative Agreement Notice (K-12 CAN) seeking proposals that incorporate innovative approaches for development and delivery of instructional materials, create experiences that capture the interest of learners, and actively involve participants in relevant NASA science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—or STEM—content applications. The instructional materials and experiences of the proposal should support secondary level teaching and learning, with a particular emphasis on high school education.
  
  This CAN is available electronically through the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES) (http://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?method=init&solId={726E25A3-1B61-65E8-6D6C-82A987557CEB}&path=open). Proposals should be submitted electronically via the NASA NSPIRES System (http://nspires.nasaprs.com). The proposal due date is September 25, 2009, at 11:59 p.m. EST. Please send direct questions specifically regarding this solicitation to: Dr. Antoinette C. Wells, National Project Manager, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Mail Code: 130.3, Greenbelt, MD 20771 or Antoinette.C.Wells@nasa.gov.
  

National Education Accountability Requires Overhaul
New Broader, Bolder Approach Campaign Report Outlines Comprehensive View of Accountability in Post-NCLB Era

Test scores in reading and math alone cannot describe a school’s contributions to the full range of desired student outcomes. Instead, a new accountability system that combines testing with qualitative evaluation is needed to replace the discredited No Child Left Behind Act. 

This recommendation is the centerpiece of a new report from the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education (BBA) Campaign. The full report is available at www.boldapproach.org/.

From NSTA Express: Week of July 13, 2009

Fewer Jobs Available for Scientists and Engineers
A USA Today article reports a growing shortage of jobs for scientists and engineers in the United States. While the unemployment rate for all engineers has recently risen to 5.5%, fewer college students are graduating with science and engineering degrees. According to USA Today, part of the problem has to do with the low wages offered in science and engineering careers compared with  the much higher salaries offered in other fields such as medicine and law. Furthermore, many of today’s engineers are simply overqualified for the positions that are available.

To address this problem, many educators and policymakers have been pushing for more funding for STEM education in an effort to increase the number of graduates with STEM degrees and therefore expand the job market. However, some believe that increased funding will only yield limited growth in scientific positions. Nevertheless, top officials, including Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, believe that the U.S. needs more, not fewer, scientists and engineers to meet the challenges that the nation faces.

Read the full article at www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2009-07-08-science-engineer-jobs_N.htm.

Raytheon Unveils New STEM Education Model
On July 8, Raytheon Company presented its newly developed U.S. STEM Education Model. Analyzing approximately two hundred variables, such as student attrition rates and gender differences, the model maps out a student’s academic career and predicts the likelihood he or she will graduate with a STEM degree and enter the industry or become a teacher. According to Raytheon, the model’s primary goal is to help effective education methods rise to the top in order to increase the number of U.S. students who graduate in STEM fields. Raytheon has gifted the program to Business Higher Education Forum (BHEF), who has, in turn, made the program available for the public, encouraging users to suggest changes and new research to improve the model. For more information on the program and to download the model itself, visit www.STEMnetwork.org.

Light Source of the Future?

GE's ongoing development of a revolutionary, energy-efficient light source of the future—flexible, paper-thin, organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDS)—and its collaboration with industrial design students from the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) show how truly limitless lighting design and application will become in the years ahead. GE challenged the students to conceptualize designs that would take advantage of two key attributes that commercialized GE OLEDs are expected to feature: flexibility and thinness. This contrasts with the rigid glass form that other companies appear to be pursuing.

Read the full story or watch a video at www.geconsumerproducts.com/pressroom/press_releases/company/company/oled_cia.htm.

Speak Up!

Project Tomorrow, the national education nonprofit group that facilitates the annual Speak Up National Research Project, has announced some innovative new plans for Speak Up 2009:  

• Speak Up 2009 will include online surveys for K-12 students, parents, teachers, principals, and district administrators, and for the first time, will include a specific survey for preservice teachers enrolled in postsecondary degree programs in higher education schools and departments of education.
• Project Tomorrow is piloting a new Speak Up survey with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) for its teachers that will include the national Speak Up questions plus five (5) questions that are customized specifically to meet the needs of CPS.
• The Speak Up 2009 online surveys will be open from October 12th through December 18th. Participation in Speak Up is open to all K-12 schools and districts, private and parochial schools, virtual and online schools charter and magnet schools, and all schools of education. It is anticipated that over 350,000 surveys will be submitted this year.

There is no fee to participate in Speak Up and no limit on the number of respondents per institution. All information is 100% confidential, and the surveys take less than 20 minutes to complete. Participating institutions will receive a free online report in early February 2010 aggregating all local data with national data to use for comparative benchmarking. Plans are already in place for many districts to use their Speak Up data to inform their ARRA investments. National data findings will be released in a Congressional Briefing in spring 2010.

For additional information, visit www.tomorrow.org.

Submissions to Inside TIDE

To submit news or calendar items to Inside TIDE, email: kcluff@iteea.org.

End of Inside TIDE, Tuesday, August 11, 2009