Student Education and Research Partnership Proposal
Introduction
Reclaim Illinois, a grass roots non-partisan organization focused on returning honor, integrity and respect to Illinois government is seeking to partner with high school classes around Illinois. This partnership will provide educational and informational benefits to both students as well as the voting population in a unique partnership which will ultimately further the goal of electing the highest quality candidates possible.
Accurate candidate information that can be shared with the citizens of Illinois is critical to the Reclaim Illinois strategy. We also believe that there is a great deal of value in the engagement of future voters for the collection of applicable knowledge. In addition, this effort will provide valuable experience for students as they draw nearer to one of the most important privileges we have as American citizens, the right to vote. Through these beliefs the idea of the Student Research Partnership was born.
Participating students will use the same Reclaim Illinois Research Template used by adult volunteers to conduct research on candidates. Beyond the research we recommend several activities to help drive home the importance of knowing the facts about candidates and issues as well as participation in the democratic process. These class activities include student discussions, class votes as well as written student commentary on candidates and results.
Research results, class voting results and commentary should be provided to Reclaim Illinois in electronic format by close of business October 8th to be included on the Reclaim Illinois web site in time for review by citizens around Illinois prior to the November 2nd election. (Submit to: ReclaimIllinois@yahoo.com)
Please consider this proposal and contact Patrick Beaird by Sept 8th at ReclaimIllinois@yahoo.com with questions and to get the ball rolling on this exciting opportunity to change our collective future.
(Press Release)
We recommend execution by teachers and their students in the following manner:
The teacher should determine the candidates and offices to be researched and discussed based on those candidates that citizens will be able to vote for in the area in which the school is located. The teacher may ascertain this information by visiting http://illinois.evoter.com/. The resulting list will be composed of the candidates that the students will potentially research.
Depending on the number of students participating in the exercise the teacher may elect to assign teams of students to work together to research one or more candidates or even reduce the number of candidates to be researched. These specifics are at the discretion of the teacher. If the candidates to be researched are to be reduced it is recommended that the candidates for one or two statewide offices such as Governor or Secretary of State or Federal House or Senate be included and the remaining research be conducted on a selection of offices that will specifically represent the area in which the school is located.
In addition to the candidate research, other activities such as the following can be beneficial to help students gain further valuable understanding.
- Class votes and discussion of the results.
- Discussions about the various offices, their purpose and terms.
- The differences between the Primary and General Election.
- What it takes to make it on the ballot for the Primary.
- What it takes to make it on the ballot for the General Election.
- Discussions about the various political parties.
- Discussions about the history of government corruption in Illinois.
- Student essays about past corrupt politicians.
- Discussion on various reform measures
- Discussion on Reclaim Illinois and other organizations trying to bring about reform, transparency and justice.
- Discussion of the pros and cons of term limits.
- Discussion of the various criminal activities conducted by corrupt politicians and government employees.
- How a Bill Becomes a Law in Illinois
- The Illinois Constitution
The effort can last a few weeks or ultimately extend through the general election on Novemeber 2nd and result in additional discussions such as how the class vote compared to the actual results.
The efforts will make for interesting discussions, educated students as well as informed citizens, a combination definately worth the time!
Candidate research results, class voting results and commentary should be provided to Reclaim Illinois in electronic format by close of business October 8th to be included on the Reclaim Illinois web site in time for review by citizens around Illinois prior to the November 2nd election. (Submit to: ReclaimIllinois@yahoo.com) If your late submit anyway and we will make every effort to add all submissions!!
Research Instructions:
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- Use the official "Candidate Research Template" located below.
Templates can be requested by e-mailing reclaimillinois@yahoo.com
- Before beginning research Coordinate with Reclaim Illinois regarding the candidates you will research to avoid duplicate effort.
- The Internet is the recommended research environment with such valuable search engines and web sites as: www.google.com, www.Yahoo.com, www.Bing.com, www.YouTube.com and thecapitolfaxblog.com. Also, check out our Informative Links page.
- Each piece of reference/source information must include a complete web address that links directly back to the reference/source information.
- Seek references/sources over and above those controlled by the candidate.
- Look out for sites such as www.evoter.com which may be identified as unbiased but include information paid for and placed by the candidates. www.evoter.com is a great resource of information but it's a for profit venture.
- Attempt to provide up to three references/sources to indicate the candidate's exact position on an issue should there be some question between their words and their actions or the lack there of.
- Explain the candidates position on each issue as briefly as possible, include quotes to further support their views and then include the links to the references/sources.
- Include a scan in jpg format of any printed materials identified as references/sources.
- Be objective and let the facts speak for themselves.
Return completed templates via e-mail to "reclaimillinois@yahoo.com".
If you have additional questions e-mail them to us along with your name and phone number.
