With much talk both on a local and national level regarding the need to change our educational system, it is important to solicit feedback and ideas from all who have a stake in ensuring that our students receive a top-notch education that will prepare them for social, academic and economic success after high school.

Perhaps the most important stakeholders are the students themselves. So what do they think about the quality of the education that they are receiving and the use of technology to engage them in the learning process?

The Speak Up National Research Project attempts to answer this question by conducting an annual survey of K-12 students. Since this effort began in 2003, more than 1.5 million students have been surveyed. As educators, as parents, as citizens with a vested interest in our nation’s prosperity, we need to pay attention to what students are saying.

The most recent Speak Up report reflects the feedback of over 281,000 K-12 students from all 50 states. Although most of the surveyed students attend public schools, their responses offer important insights for all of us, including those involved in private education and home schooling.

• Only one-third feel that their school is doing good job of preparing them for future jobs. An even larger number of parents expressed this concern, and only 56 percent of principals stated their schools are doing a good job in preparing students for the 21st century workforce.

• For most students, computers, the Internet, mobile devices and other technologies are an invaluable and inseparable part of their life; yet this is not true of their classroom experience. Nearly 50 percent of all respondents stated that their school blocks access to websites that could provide educational value. According to students, the number one impediment to the use of technology is the prohibition on using their own electronic devices in the classroom, even when access to such a device is not provided by the school.

• One-half of the high students wanted classes to be more interesting, and 43 percent felt online courses would increase interest by giving students greater control of their learning environment.

Perhaps the most important element to consider is that the students’ desire to use technology is about being engaged in the learning process. Technology, when appropriately used, helps students become active members of the learning process, not merely passive beings who listen to lectures, take notes, and respond to questions from a book. The use of technology can inspire students to become seekers and sharers of information in global ways that were not possible when our generation attended schools. Technology can help individualize instruction as well as promote critical thinking and provide greater relevancy to the world in which our students live.

As a founding member, teacher, and chief administrator of two state-wide virtual school programs, Bruce Friend has considerable experience in providing online learning opportunities to home school students. In 2003, Bruce was honored with the Most Outstanding Achievement by an Individual Award by the U.S. Distance Learning Association. In recent years he has consulted with online program developers and families throughout the United States. He is currently the Director of SAS Curriculum Pathways (www.sascurriculumpathways.com). bruce.friend@sas.com.