15 Reasons Why Jesus "Chuy" Garcia Is The Real Deal ‪#‎Chuy2015‬ ‪#‎imwithchuy‬

15 Reasons Why Jesus "Chuy" Garcia Is A Real Chicagoan:

15 Reasons Why Jesus “Chuy” Garcia Is A Real Chicagoan

Jesus “Chuy” Garcia is running for Mayor of Chicago. One of the biggest differences between him and the current mayor ? Chuy is a real Chicagoan, making him the Mayor for ALL of Chicago.

1. His children attended Chicago Public Schools

Garcia’s sons are proud CPS graduates.

2. He works on violence prevention and doesn’t just talk about it

Via enlacechicago.org

As the founding Executive Director of a community organization in Little Village, Garcia worked to develop a comprehensive approach to youth development and violence prevention. The organization is now recognized in the Chicago metropolitan area for its school-based prevention work, street intervention and advocacy for reform in juvenile justice policy.

3. He never took a ballet class, like Rahm, but he knows how to step and salsa

If elected, Mayor Garcia will proclaim “Steppin” the official dance of Chicago…Just kidding but you might catch Garcia “gettin’ down” on Election Day!
Chicago-Style Stepping, (also known as Steppin’) is an urban dance that originated in Chicago.

“As a former ballet dancer, let me tell you: For all I’ve done, she (mom) still says, ‘You coulda been a dancer.’ - Rahm Emmanuel.

Indeed, he should’ve been a dancer.

4. He won’t pick your pockets

Via chicagotribune.com

Garcia is calling for an immediate suspension of the city’s red light camera program.
“Those cameras that simply provide the city another way to pick our pocket should be shut down immediately.”- Jesus Garcia

5. He’s worked to open schools not close them

Via cct.org

The community organization in Little Village, led by Jesus Garcia organized residents in the struggle for a desperately needed new high school in the community that the city had promised, but failed to build. The efforts culminated in success after a 19-day hunger strike held on the site where the state-of-the-art Little Village Lawndale High School would finally open in 2005.

6. He’s not a Hollywood actor

Via chicagotribune.com

“Everything the Mayor does is stage-managed. Everything. That is the way he operates, so I’m not going to dispute that,”- Marc Levin Creator and Executive producer of Chicagoland

7. He’ll have a drink with you, even if you’re not a millionaire

Via chicagoreader.com

A look at Rahm Emanuel’s calendar shows how wealth and access, far more than party identity or ideology, have come to command the attention of politicians—leaving everyday people out of the conversation. - Mick Dumke, “The Mayor’s Millionaire Club, Part II”

Emanuel pictured with millionaire newly-elected Republican governor, Bruce Rauner

8. He builds bridges across communities

Via unitedcongress.org

Whether as an elected official or a community activist, Garcia has always worked to build unity across ethic and religious lines. As a member on the Executive Council of The United Congress of Community and Religious Organizations, Garcia helped in building the capacity of all of our communities to win together. He shares a vision of deeply-rooted relationships committed to long-term systemic change.

9. He’s not afraid of a snowstorm

Via articles.chicagotribune.com

During last years brutal snowstorm, Emanuel was on vacation in Bali.
Even Daley knew better.

It’s obvious that as he begins his re-election phase, the mayor of Chicago is so confident that he goes to Indonesia while Chicago freezes and the side streets and alleys hadn’t been plowed.- John Kass, “Mayoral tan? Bali Hai Mayor Rahmfather”

10. He is a real Chicago sports fan and not just when a Chicago team is in the playoffs

Via nbcchicago.com

The reelection-seeking Emanuel, a non-sports fan in a fanatical sports town, observed the Blackhawks’ winning showdown against the Minnesota Wild with trademark intensity. -Erin Carlson, “Emanuel’s Denim Shirt at Blackhawks Game Sparks Twitter Mockery”

11. He’s been a true progressive his whole life, not just around election time

Via chicagoforchuy.com

In 1983, Harold Washington was elected mayor which spawned what some see as the golden age of progressive politics in Chicago. Harold named Garcia Water Commissioner and two years later he was elected alderman of the 22nd Ward, an election that would change the balance of power in the City Council.

12. He wants you to get your medicine

Via chicagoreader.com

In 2012 Mayor Rahm Emanuel shut down half of the city’s mental health clinics.
“He didn’t hold any hearings before he proposed the closures. He didn’t initiate a study or put together a task force. He certainly didn’t talk to any mental health patients who would be affected by the cuts.” - Ben Joravsky, “Rahm still hasn’t told the public why he closed mental health clinics”

13. He doesn’t have to pretend he’s a tough guy… he actually is

Via chicagotribune.com

Emanuel might have pretensions in this area given his tough-guy pose and the knife table stabbing incidents and the theatrical sending of fish to his foes. And I do call him the Rahmfather. But Emanuel isn’t really from the streets. Garcia is. And Emanuel knows it. - John Kass, “Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia wants Rahm in the deep waters of an April runoff”

14. He won’t turn over public land to private interests

Via chicagotribune.com

Ok…his nickname is “Chuy” but Garcia’s opposed to giving George Lucas space on our precious lakefront to build a ‘Star Wars’ Museum (Garcia supports the Michael Reese Hospital site in Bronzeville for the museum location) and will always work to keep Chicago’s lakefront open, clear and free.
The museum “would fail to preserve the trust property as a natural resource and as a clear and open space ensuring unrestricted access to Lake Michigan.”-federal lawsuit brought by a nonprofit group, Friends of the Parks.

15. He believes in everyday people

Artist: Eric Triantafillou

“There are no great men and women in this world, only great challenges that ordinary people must take on”- Rudy Lozano, slain activist, community organizer and friend to Jesus “Chuy” Garcia. 15 Reasons Why Jesus "Chuy" Garcia Is A Real Chicagoan:

1 Reason Rahm isn't

Click here to go to Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago Website

‪#‎Chuy2015‬ ‪#‎imwithchuy‬

Help send activists to NPE-Chicago by Robin Hiller - GoFundMe

Help send activists to NPE-Chicago by Robin Hiller - GoFundMe:
Help send activists to NPE-Chicago

Help send activists to NPE-Chicago by Robin Hiller - GoFundMe:

 

Help send activists to NPE-Chicago by Robin Hiller - GoFundMe:

Twisted Validity: Guilting Parents to “Opt” Kids to Test in Order to Save Teachers and School | deutsch29

Twisted Validity: Guilting Parents to “Opt” Kids to Test in Order to Save Teachers and School | deutsch29:



Twisted Validity: Guilting Parents to “Opt” Kids to Test in Order to Save Teachers and School

 Test validity concerns how well a test measures what it is actually supposed to measure.

As such, student achievement tests should be confined to measuring student achievement– not for grading teachers and schools. It really is that simple.

Nevertheless.

The validity issue has been completely ignored with George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and with the Obama/Duncan NCLB waivers, and with both Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorizations currently in theHouse and Senate.

All of this works for those wielding the high-stakes-testing power wand and raking in financial rewards because of what I will term “the compartmentalized beauty for ed reform.” Here is how it works related to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) assessment appendage, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test:

1. PARCC assessment vendor, Pearson, can make a test and call it a student assessment based upon CCSS.

2. Federal or state legislation can mandate that the student assessment scores are to be used to measure individuals who d not complete the tests, such as teachers, or even entities, such as schools.

3. Pearson can offer individualized score reports; consolidated reports on schools, districts, states, or even the entire (dwindling) PARCC consortium. And since Pearson is not offering reports that directly pass judgment on non-testers (teachers, schools), then even though the company knows that its individualized student tests are to be used to pass high-stakes judgment on non-testers, it need not pay any attention to it.

4. Those wielding test driven reform (lawmakers, policy pushers) are not readily held responsible for violating test validity because if stupidity is written into the law, that somehow makes the violation non-existent.

5. Meanwhile, the actual test takers– the students– have undue pressure placed on them to carry both teacher careers and school destinies upon their young backs.

You see, in our little American education top-down “reform” hierarchy, as one goes down the chain and moves farther away from the non-classroomed– the legislators, policy opiners, and education profiteers– responsibility increases and power Twisted Validity: Guilting Parents to “Opt” Kids to Test in Order to Save Teachers and School | deutsch29:

Schneider is a southern Louisiana native, career teacher, trained researcher, and author of the ed reform whistle blower, A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who In the Implosion of American Public Education.

Where Rahm Emanuel's 'head is at' on runoff strategy | #‎Chuy2015‬ ‪#‎imwithchuy‬

Where Rahm Emanuel's 'head is at' on runoff strategy | Chicago:

Where Rahm Emanuel's 'head is at' on runoff strategy

 Mayor Rahm Emanuel is known for brute-force politics, but never before has he had to fight for his own political life.

Now, facing a tough battle with challenger Jesus “Chuy” Garcia to stay in office, Emanuel is trying to smooth out his own rough edges while waging a four-week war with four goals:

• Build a stronger field operation to boost voter turnout, particularly among white-ethnic and African-American voters.

• Use surrogates to try to carve out for himself a healthy chunk of Garcia’s Hispanic base.

• Carefully exploit historic tensions between Hispanics and blacks.

• Portray Garcia as indecisive, inexperienced and incapable of leading a city that’s wavering on the financial brink.

“This is not four weeks of destruction or scorched-earth,” said an Emanuel strategist, who agreed to speak only on the condition of not being named. “We’re looking to make sure the differences between the candidates are stark. It’s a comparison that’s very favorable to us.

“Chuy Garcia has served in three different legislative bodies. The only remarkable thing about him is how unremarkable his record is.”

Paul Begala and James Carville, who served with Emanuel in the Clinton White House, both have given political advice to their close friend — advice they declined to talk about.

But Begala said the extraordinary mea culpa commercial that features Emanuel looking straight into the camera and saying, “I can rub people the wrong way or talk when I should listen,” is a “very strong reflection of where his head is at.

“It’s a very different race than the first time,” Begala said. “It’s a choice now — not a referendum [on Emanuel]. That’s an enormous strategic shift.”

Carville said he sees the runoff and what Emanuel needs to do this way:

“It’s a close race. It’s got to be a contrast: ‘This is my record. This is what I offer. This is what I propose to do. This is what my opponent proposes to do.’ The choice has to be framed. Chicagoans have to make a decision. That happens more often than not when an incumbent is running and people say, ‘I’ll just vote against the incumbent.’ ”

The Chicago Sun-Times interviewed five political strategists with ties to Emanuel to get a sense of the mayor’s game plan for the runoff. All agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity, not wanting to alienate the notoriously controlling Emanuel.

All said they think Emanuel is in real danger of becoming a one-term mayor. But all also said that, if the following campaign strategy is executed well, he can win re-election:

BLACK VOTE: Four years ago, Emanuel got 58 percent of the African-American vote and captured every black ward on the strength of President Barack Obama’s tacit endorsement of his former White House chief of staff.

But in the Feb. 24 election, the mayor got just 42 percent of a much smaller pie. Millionaire businessman Willie Wilson got 25 percent of the black vote, thanks to residual anger from the Where Rahm Emanuel's 'head is at' on runoff strategy | Chicago:

JESUS "CHUY" GARCIA FOR MAYOR OF CHICAGO #CHUY2015

​

Click here to go to Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago Website

‪#‎Chuy2015‬ ‪#‎imwithchuy‬

What Will It Take to Build a National Movement for Education Justice? | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign

What Will It Take to Build a National Movement for Education Justice? | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity:

What Will It Take to Build a National Movement for Education Justice?

Posted on: Wednesday March 4th, 2015

Mark Warren

If you want the best explanation of the challenges facing our nation's public schools and what parents, students, teachers and policymakers must do to fix them, look no further than University of Massachusetts professor Mark Warren's latest article, "Transforming Public Education: The Need for an Educational Justice Movement." 

Warren's paper, published in the New England Journal of Public Policy, is a valuable primer on how our schools and students are impacted by broader inequalities in our society and how the seeds of an emerging education justice movement can take root and flourish into a political force to be reckoned with. 

As Warren outlines, the problems facing American public schools are deep and tied tightly to circumstances outside the classroom: 

"Our educational system is profoundly marked by racial and class inequality tied to broader structures of poverty and racism. We live in a society in which half of all black and Latino children grow up in or near poverty, often in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty with high rates of violence and inadequate services. They attend under-resourced schools which fail them at high rates." 

As long as low-income students of color remain at the "epicenter of injustice in our society," change will only result from a full-fledge movement to transform schools and communities. For Warren, this means getting beyond technical or organizational approaches like reworking curricula or introducing charter schools. Instead we must transform the role of schools so they can provide the kinds of supports and services to students and their families that build stronger communities and combat poverty. 

Warren sees reason to hope (as do we here at the OTL Campaign!) in the kinds of student, parent and teacher organizing taking place already across the country. Groups like Padres y Jovenes Unidosin Denver have helped build a national movement to end harsh school discipline policies that has garnered the endorsement of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Attorney General Eric Holder. Those efforts can be scaled up and broadened: 

Students, teachers and parents at a rally with
the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools in May 2014

"The seeds of a new educational justice movement have been growing. They can be found in the rise of community and youth organizing efforts, in the development of teacher activism, and in the recent creation of new alliances at local, state, and national levels that connect grassroots organizing to a broad range of stakeholders. Many of these activists and stakeholders have begun to offer a program for school transformation that connects to broader efforts to address poverty and racism."

By Warren's count, there are at least 500 community organizing groups across the country working on public education, many of which are participating in the Alliance to Reclaim Our What Will It Take to Build a National Movement for Education Justice? | National Opportunity to Learn Campaign | Education Reform for Equity and Opportunity:

Emanuel allies promise property tax hike, pension cuts in new term - ‪#‎Chuy2015‬ ‪#‎imwithchuy‬

Emanuel allies promise property tax hike, pension cuts in new term - Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago:

Emanuel allies promise property tax hike, pension cuts in new term

 Chicago — Following is a statement from Jesus “Chuy” Garcia Campaign Manager Andrew Sharp in response to the press conference held by Rahm Emanuel’s City Council allies this morning:

“The same aldermen who’ve pushed the Emanuel Administration’s policies that have driven our economy into a financial freefall today endorsed Rahm Emanuel’s budget priorities. 

“Year after year, this team has deliberately chosen to underfund police and public safety budget items, while giving out corporate giveaways and rewarding large campaign contributors with over $100 million in tax breaks.

“The numbers put forth today by Emanuel’s allies would flunk any third grade math test. More numbers provided by the people who brought you the parking meter deal and five financial downgrades in the last four years have zero credibility.

“As Mayor, Emanuel’s slash-and-burn budget priorities have included shutting down half of the City's public mental health clinics and cutting hours and staff for public libraries that families depend on. His budgets have sold off public assets in privatization deals, cut funding for promised health care benefits for retirees, and have nickeled-and-dimed Chicagoans with revenue scams like red light and speed cameras.

"Chuy Garcia has been clear from day one on his budget priorities.

“As mayor, Chuy will invest in resources and services for Chicago's neighborhoods, like 1,000 new police officers to keep our communities safe. He’ll get our fiscal house in order by ending irresponsible practices like ‘scoop and toss’ bond schemes that have led to the downgrade of Chicago's credit rating. And he’ll ask the very wealthy and big corporations to pay their fair share, instead of balancing the books on the backs of working people and seniors.

“These attacks are designed to scare Chicagoans, and distract them from the fact that a majority of voters rejected his slash and burn approach to governance on Feb. 24. It won't work."

Contact: Monica Trevino, mtrevino2319@gmail.com

Contact: Vanessa Figueroa, vanessa@figueroastratcom.com

Click here to go to Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago Website

‪#‎Chuy2015‬ ‪#‎imwithchuy‬

Arkansas Mom Exposes Common Core For The Nightmare It Is:

Arkansas Mom Exposes Common Core For The Nightmare It Is

Are you smarter than a Common Core 4th grader?

 Karen Lamoreaux addressed the Arkansas Board of Education in December 2013 to discuss the negative effects of Common Core on the local students. Mrs. Lamoreaux said that she represented more than 1,100 parents, educators, and taxpayers of Arkansas “who have very serious reservations about the Common Core initiative.” The mother of three children accused the board of falling for the same empty sales pitch that Common Core would be a “set of rigorous, college-ready internationally bench-marked standards that prepare our kids to compete in a global economy.”

Mrs. Lamoreaux instructed the members of the school board to participate in a Common Core math problem by getting their pencils out.

Are you smarter than a Common Core fourth grader? Let’s find out. The problem is: Mr. Yamato’s class has 18 students. If the class counts around by a number and ends with 90, what number did they count by?

After restating the math problem again, Mrs. Lamoreaux asked if anybody on the board knew the answer. One board member answered “five” by dividing 18 into 90. Mrs. Lamoreaux confirmed:

You know why? Because that’s what makes sense, right? That’s the way we were taught to do it in the fourth grade level.

Then she held up a Common Core math lesson that teaches students to solve this problem in a different way.

This, however, is what the Common Core Standards expect our fourth graders to do. If they solve it in those two steps they get it marked wrong. They are expected to draw 18 circles with 90 hashmarks solving this problem in exactly 108 steps. Board members, this is not rigorous. This is not college ready. This is not preparing our children to compete in a global economy.

Mrs. Lamoreaux went on to say that students who were in the upper eightieth percentile or greater in the previous year are now getting C’s, D’s, and F’s on their report cards. With passion in her

Read more at http://www.westernjournalism.com/arkansas-mom-exposes-common-core-nightmare/#5FUjcYYfczUs3yZc.99

Is your third grader a failure? Of course not - But the Common Core Test will say they are. - Wait What?

Is your third grader a failure?  Of course not - But the Common Core Test will say they are. - Wait What?:



Is your third grader a failure?  Of course not – But the Common Core Test will say they are.

 Parents – No matter the age of your child, please read this article:

It was U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan who exclaimed that the goal of the “education reform” industry was to create a public education system in which we’d be able to look every second grader in the eye and tell them whether or not they were on track to get a college education or have a good career.

The comment is bizarre, incredible and more than a little scary considering it is not only inappropriate, but impossible, to know what will arise in the future of an eight year old.

But supporters of “education reform” actually brag that their Common Core standards and Common Core Testing Scheme will ensure that every child will college and career ready by the time they finish 12^th grade.

Earlier today, Diane Ravitch posted an absolutely MUST READ piece about an analysis of the Common Core English Language Arts Test that is being given to third graders this spring in New York State.

The analysis was written by Kevin Glynn, an elementary teacher in Long Island, New York.

New York educator analyzed the third grade questions on the Common Core PARCC Test.  Connecticut students will be using Common Core SBAC Test, a parallel version of the PARCC Test.

The New York teacher discovered that the language used in the 3^rd Grade Common Core Test was, “far above the level they could understand.”

Glynn wrote,

“In English Language Arts tests, the grade level appropriateness of text used is a gray area. Some would argue that it is perfectly fine for third graders to be assessed using texts with readability levels of 5th and 6th graders. But even the champions of rigor must adhere to the golden rule of testing- the questions MUST be written on the grade level you are attempting to assess. It only makes sense. Students can’t answer questions that they do not understand. These tests are constructed for ALL students in a given grade level and therefore it is imperative that the questions are grade appropriate.”

He added,

“As a former test developer for Pearson, PARCC, CTB, and NYSED we were 

Is your third grader a failure?  Of course not - But the Common Core Test will say they are. - Wait What?:

"(Ya Got) Trouble" at Pearson | Alan Singer

"(Ya Got) Trouble" at Pearson | Alan Singer:

"(Ya Got) Trouble" at Pearson

 Inexcusable Irresponsibility - On Tuesday, March 2, 2015, the following memo was posted on the New York State Teacher Certification Examinationswebsite by Pearson Education:

"Important Announcement about Score Reporting for Redeveloped NYSTCE Content Specialty Tests: Reporting of scores for the redeveloped Content Specialty Tests (CSTs) listed below will be delayed until Spring 2015, while NYSED establishes a passing score for each test/subtest. Please check this website frequently. When passing scores have been established, the score reporting schedule will be updated." The new Content Specialty Tests for teachers designed, administered, and graded by Pearson were rolled out it September 2015. Students seeking teacher certification were originally told to expect results in "early 2015."

A notice was also posted on the NYSED.gov website. NYSED reported it is in the "process of establishing passing scores for each of the redeveloped Content Specialty Tests (CSTs) listed below. It is anticipated that scores for each test/subtest will be released in Spring 2015. When passing scores have been established, the score reporting schedule on the NYSTCE website will be updated."

In response to these postings, I received an email [names deleted] from the parent of one of the students who recently completed the Hofstra University teacher education program.

"As a teacher myself, I am utterly frustrated and angry at Pearson and Gov. Cuomo for the current attack on our profession. I know you have kept a watch on Pearson . . . Currently, I need some advice on how to handle this situation. I do not know whether to contact an attorney and bring a suit against Pearson because this time lag is unacceptable or contact our State Senators but since they are both Democrats, I do not think that will get my anywhere. I can only imagine the students who are waiting for this test and are unable to obtain employment/interviews because they are currently not certified . . . Pearson states that they are releasing the grades in Spring, 2015. Again, an unacceptable time lag."

On Diane Ravitch's Blog, Jane Arnold, a reading specialist with the State University of New York, reported that she "was one of the people asked to 'help' set the cut-off scores for the 5-9 multi-subject tests. We did the math and the ELA. First, these were to set the cut-offs for the 36 people who took the tests in September and who are still waiting for their results. Second, we were asked to take the tests ourselves, and many people said they couldn't imaging having to do this on a computer."

According to Arnold, "one of the questions was worded in such as way that there was no correct answer. Several of the evaluators felt "We're here so Pearson can say they "(Ya Got) Trouble" at Pearson | Alan Singer: