Juan Rangel, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE UNITED NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATION (UNO). UNO is metropolitan Chicago’s largest Hispanic community-based organization. Among his accomplishments as CEO, Mr. Rangel opened the Octavio Paz Charter School in 1998, successfully demonstrating that all children can learn given an environment of high expectations and accountability for students, faculty, and staff alike.

In 2004, UNO developed the UNO Charter School Network (UCSN), which includes the Octavio Paz Primary and Intermediate Campuses, as well as the Rufino Tamayo Campus. He has since expanded the UNO network to include six campuses in Chicago and one in New Orleans. Three more campuses, including UNO’s first high school, are scheduled to open in the Chicago area in the fall of 2008. This upcoming expansion brings UNO’s network to nine school campuses and makes UNO the single largest charter school operator and management company in Illinois, as well as the largest national Hispanic charter school operator.

In 2001, Mr. Rangel co-developed the Metropolitan Leadership Institute (MLI), aimed at engaging young Hispanic professionals in the public arena, including political, corporate, governmental, and non-profit spheres. The MLI is a year-long training program that incorporates UNO’s 20+ years of community organizing experience toward the development of Hispanic leaders within metropolitan Chicago. By May 2008, over 150 individuals will have graduated from the program throughout its six-year existence.

Prior to joining UNO in 1992, Mr. Rangel was the Training Coordinator for Illinois Fiesta Educativa, a training and advocacy organization for disabled Latinos. He is a past fellow (1997) of Leadership Greater Chicago and in 1999 was included in Crain’s Chicago Business “40 Under 40”—a list of prominent Chicago leaders. Mr. Rangel was also the recipient of the 1999 Hispanic American Construction Industry Association’s (HACIA) Visionary Award. In 2004, Mr. Rangel received Operation Push’s Public Servant Award and was honored by the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois for his work in Education Advocacy. Mr. Rangel has a bachelor’s degree from Northeastern Illinois University.

Earlier this year, Common Core's report shows a nation STILL AT RISK. Nearly a quarter of students polled could not identify Adolf Hitler and half had no idea what the Renaissance was. To learn more read the report, press release or stories at ABC News, CBS News, The New York Times, and USA TODAY. Or take the test yourself.

FROM THE BENCH: "One unintended effect of the No Child Left Behind Act, …, is that it has effectively squeezed out civics education because there is no testing for that anymore and no funding for that. And at least half of the states no longer make the teaching of civics and government a requirement for high school graduation. This leaves a huge gap, and we can't forget that the primary purpose of public schools in America has always been to help produce citizens who have the knowledge and the skills and the values to sustain our republic as a nation, our democratic form of government," former justice Sandra Day O'Connor said. (cont'd)

CAMPAIGN FILE: Sen. John McCain recalls his English teacher: “There was one friendship that enriched my life at Episcopal High School beyond measure... Mr. Ravenel was head of the English Department... He loved English literature, and taught us to love it as well... He made us appreciate how profound were the emotions that animated the characters in Shakespeare's tragedies. MacBeth and Hamlet in his care were as compelling to boys as they were to the most learned scholar.” (cont'd)

CAMPAIGN FILE: Sen. Barack Obama said “One of the problems with No Child Left Behind is that it has become so reliant on a standardized test model that—first of all—subjects like history and social studies have gotten pushed aside. Arts and music time is no longer there. So the child is not having the well-rounded educational experience I benefited from and most in my generation benefited from.” (cont'd)