Harmony Public Schools is the largest

charter management organization A charter management organization (CMO) is an educational organization that operates charter schools in the United States. Charter schools are public schools that operate independently of the local government school district. A CMO contracts with ...

in Texas, with sixty campuses serving students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The headquarters are located in

Southwest Management District Southwest Management District, formerly Greater Sharpstown Management District, is a district in Houston, Texas, United States. The district is split into 6 neighborhoods: Sharpstown, Chinatown, Mahatma Gandhi District/Little India, Westwood, ...

(formerly Greater Sharpstown),

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

,Map Major Roads
." Greater Sharpstown Management District. Retrieved on August 15, 2009. In 2015, Harmony managed charter schools enrolling 34,203 students.

History

The first Harmony school opened in

in 2000. Several Turkish-American graduate students, wrote a charter school proposal and received approval from the Texas Education Agency in April 2000, months before the first campus opened in August. Within ten years, Harmony expanded to thirty-three campuses across the state, reaching as far as El Paso and Dallas. Now at seventeen years and 54 campuses, Harmony has reached its goal of operating fifty schools and educating 35,000 students by 2020.

Academic performance

Harmony Public Schools works to break down the educational barriers for low-socioeconomic students in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields. Its project-based learning method and STEM SOS model requires students to complete multiple hands-on projects per year in select fields, then present their findings to the community. This motivates students to master complex academic concepts and gives them practice at lifelong skills, such as public speaking and communications. Every Harmony campus passed or exceeded the state's academic standards in 2016, with six of its campuses earning all seven available academic distinctions and two of its districts earning the post-secondary readiness distinction. In 2011 the

Texas Education Agency The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the branch of the government of Texas responsible for public education in Texas in the United States.

(TEA) rated 21 of the 33 Harmony schools as "Exemplary" or "Recognized", while the remainder were "Acceptable".Kastner, Lindsay. "Harmony schools causing discord." ''

San Antonio Express-News The ''San Antonio Express-News'' is a daily newspaper in San Antonio, Texas. It is owned by the Hearst Corporation and has offices in San Antonio and Austin, Texas. The ''Express-News'' is the third largest newspaper in the state of Texas, with ...

''. Wednesday January 4, 2012
1
Retrieved on August 29, 2012. Texas newspapers, including

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

, the

Austin American-Statesman The ''Austin American-Statesman'' is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is owned by Gannett. The paper prints Associated Press, ''New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', and ''Los Angeles Times'' internation ...

, and the

West University Examiner The ''Examiner'' group of newspapers are a set of four community newspapers owned by the Hearst Corporation, doing business as Houston Community Newspapers (HCN). The publications include the '' Bellaire Examiner'', '' Memorial Examiner'', ''River ...

, commented favorably on the schools. HSA Houston was awarded by '' U.S. News & World Report'' a 'Bronze' medal in 2009 and a 'Silver' Medal in 2010. A ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'' report in 2011 named two of the Harmony Schools "Miracle Schools".

Participation in competitions

Harmony Public Schools students participate in a variety of competitions because of the school's emphasis on

extracurricular activities An extracurricular activity (ECA) or extra academic activity (EAA) or cultural activities is an activity, performed by students, that falls outside the realm of the normal curriculum of school, college or university education. Such activities a ...

. Harmony is especially active in

MathCounts Mathcounts, stylized as MATHCOUNTS, is a nationwide middle school mathematics competition held in various places in the United States. Its current lead sponsors are Raytheon Technologies and the U.S. Department of Defense STEM. Topics covered inc ...

FIRST LEGO League The ''FIRST'' LEGO League Challenge (formerly known as ''FIRST'' LEGO League) is an international competition organized by ''FIRST'' for elementary and middle school students (ages 9–14 in the United States and Canada, 9–16 elsewhere). Each y ...

(FLL), DISTCO (Digital Storytelling Contests)

Science Fair Science and engineering fairs, hosted by schools worldwide, offer students the opportunity to experience the practices of science and engineering for themselves. In the United States, the Next Generation Science Standards makes experiencing the ...

, and Quiz Bowl. Harmony Science Academy of Euless received an award as the 2010 Best School by the Fort Worth Regional Science and Engineering Fair only a year after it opened. Also, Harmony School of Excellence achieved first place at Nationals in their rookie year and second place in their third year. Harmony hosts and organizes I-SWEEEP (International Sustainable World Energy, Engineering & Environment Project), a global science fair where students travel from dozens of countries to showcase their projects. Many Harmony campuses traveled to the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas, for the expo to support their classmates with exhibits. Harmony's computer and English classes participate in DISTCO. The DICTCO project evaluates educational videos made by students presenting about their research or stories. The topics of choice include: Art, Cultures/Religions, Computers/Technology, English Language Arts, ESL/Foreign Languages, Health/Medical, Mathematics, Music, Personal Stories/Reflections, Places/Travel, Physical Education/Sports, Pop Culture, Science/Engineering, and Social Studies.

Management and operations

Financial operations

Harmony Public Schools enjoys a AAA financial bond rating awarded by the state and has received numerous federal grants, such as the five-year $30 million Race to the Top grant in 2011.Saul, Stephanie. "Charter Schools Tied to Turkey Grow in Texas." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. June 6, 2011
1
Retrieved on February 21, 2012. Five Harmony schools in

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

spent $7,923 per student, about $800 below the statewide average and $1,600 below the average of the

Austin Independent School District Austin Independent School District (AISD) is a school district based in the city of Austin, Texas, United States. Established in 1881, the district serves most of the City of Austin and surrounding towns, the City of Sunset Valley, the Village ...

. Kate Alexander of the ''

Austin American Statesman The ''Austin American-Statesman'' is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is owned by Gannett. The paper prints Associated Press, ''New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', and ''Los Angeles Times'' international ...

'' stated that the system had good academic performance "on a shoestring".Alexander, Kate.
Can traditional schools learn a lesson from charters' efficiency?
" ''

''. Saturday August 18, 2012. Retrieved on August 28, 2012. The Harmony Public Schools provides management services for other charter school networks. According to Tarim, Cosmos provides consulting services to the

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

charter network

School of Science and Technology The School of Science and Technology (SST) was an accredited, public high school located in Beaverton, Oregon, United States. It was a magnet program for students who have an interest in mathematics, life and physical sciences, and technology. I ...

, operated by the Riverwalk Education Foundation, which has a separate school board from Harmony Public Schools. Harmony in 2015 received $22,791,460 from federal and $229,245,331 from local and state grants.

Business contracting

The Harris County Department of Education assists Harmony Public Schools in its bidding process by reviewing every submission and making a recommendation to the board of directors. The lowest responsible bidder is given the contract. Harmony works with more than 5,000 vendors and its financial interactions are published on the main Harmony website. The ''New York Times'' article in 2011 on Harmony Public Schools and Gülen Movement in Texas reported that "Some of the schools’ operators and founders, and many of their suppliers, are followers of Fethullah Gülen"

Use of H1-B visas

As of the 2016–17 school year, 197 of Harmony's 3,500 employees (approximately 6% of the Harmony workforce) are on

H1-B The H-1B is a visa in the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act, section 101(a)(15)(H) that allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. A specialty occupation requires the application of ...

visas. This number was reported to be 292 in June 2011. Most of the employees who are on H1-B visas are from Turkey. Harmony experienced a lack of qualified math and science teachers in Texas. To alleviate the shortage, Harmony began the Grow Your Own Teacher program, which encourages and financially supports its alumni who earn teaching certificates. This program greatly reduced the number of Harmony teachers on H1-B visas. A ''New York Times'' article in 2011 also raised suspicions about the HB-1 visas used by Harmony, stating that "American consular employees reviewing visas have questioned the credentials of some teachers as they sought to enter the country. "'Most applicants had no prior teaching experience, and the schools were listed as related to' Mr. Gulen ethullah Gulen a consular employee wrote in a 2009 cable", and stating, "Some with dubious credentials were denied visas."

Investigation by Office for Civil Rights

Harmony Public Schools were subject to a compliance review by the

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...

Office for Civil Rights The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is a sub-agency of the U.S. Department of Education that is primarily focused on enforcing civil rights laws prohibiting schools from engaging in discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex ...

, examining whether the system was compliant with Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin),

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, is American legislation that guarantees certain rights to people with disabilities. It was one of the first U.S. federal civil rights laws offering protection for people with disabilities. It set preced ...

(prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability in education programs operated by recipients of federal financial assistance), and Title II of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability by public entities). The OCR's investigation found that although HPS's admissions policies, procedures, and information provided to prospective students and their parents were ''

prima facie ''Prima facie'' (; ) is a Latin expression meaning ''at first sight'' or ''based on first impression''. The literal translation would be 'at first face' or 'at first appearance', from the feminine forms of ''primus'' ('first') and ''facies'' (' ...

'' non-discriminatory, the school systems' enrollments of disabled students and

English-language learner English-Language Learner (often abbreviated as ELL) is a term used in some English-speaking countries such as the US and Canada to describe a person who is learning the English language and has a native language that is not English. Some education ...

s were significantly lower than for public school districts covering the same geographical areas. In late 2014 the investigation was closed after HPS submitted proposals to resolve the issues identified by the OCR.

Influence of Gülen movement

William Martin of

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

said, as paraphrased by Toppo, that "educators' assertions of 'no organic connection' to Gülen are 'accurate,' but that 'their efforts to minimize ties to Gülen, likely from fear of being branded

Islamists Islamism (also often called political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism) is a political ideology which posits that modern states and regions should be reconstituted in constitutional, economic and judicial terms, in accordance with what is c ...

, bring unnecessary and probably counterproductive suspicion.'"Toppo, Greg.
Objectives of charter schools with Turkish ties questioned
" ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

''. August 17, 2010. Retrieved on August 29, 2012.

Schools

Harmony's initial schools opened in areas formerly occupied by stores and leased areas owned by churches; these spaces are typical locations for charter schools. After selling over $645M in state-guaranteed public bonds, Harmony began building its own campuses, although many campuses still occupy leased space.Kastner, Lindsay. "Harmony schools causing discord." ''

''. Wednesday January 4, 2012
2
Retrieved on August 29, 2012.

Austin

* Harmony Science Academy PK-8 * Harmony School of Science K-5 * Harmony School of Innovation PK-5 * Harmony Science Academy-Pflugerville 6–12 * Harmony School of Excellence 6–12 * Harmony Science Academy Cedar Park PK-5 * Harmony School of Endeavor PK-12

Beaumont

K-12 * Harmony Science Academy

Brownsville

K-8 * Harmony Science Academy 6–12 * Harmony School Of Innovation

Bryan/College Station

K-8 * Harmony Science Academy

Dallas

* Harmony School of Innovation-Carrollton K-5 * Harmony School of Excellence 6–12 * Harmony Science Academy Dallas K-12 * Harmony Science Academy Carrollton 6–12 * Harmony School of Innovation-Dallas 6–12 * Harmony Science Academy Plano K-6 * Harmony Science Academy K-5 * Harmony Science Academy Garland K-6 * Harmony School of Innovation Garland 6-12

El Paso

K-5 *Harmony School of Excellence 6–12 * Harmony Science Academy K-12 * Harmony School of Innovation

Fort Worth

K-5 * Harmony Science Academy 5–12 * Harmony School of Innovation

Garland/Rowlett/Sachse

K-6 * Harmony Science Academy 7–12 *Harmony School of Innovation

Grand Prairie

K-8 * Harmony Science Academy

Euless

pre-K-5 * Harmony School of Innovation 6–12 * Harmony Science Academy

Houston

K-8 * Harmony School of Fine Arts and Technology * Harmony School of Excellence * Harmony School of Endeavor * Harmony School of Technology K-5 * Harmony School of Achievement * Harmony School of Enrichment 9–12 * Harmony School of Advancement * Harmony Science Academy High School 6–12 * Harmony School of Discovery K-5 * Harmony School of Exploration 6–12 * Harmony School of Ingenuity * Harmony School of Innovation-Katy 6–8 * Harmony School of Innovation K-5 * Harmony Science Academy-Katy 5–8 * Harmony School of Technology

Sugar Land

K-5 * Harmony Science Academy 6–8 *Harmony School of Excellence 9–12 * Harmony School of Innovation – Sugar Land

Laredo

9–12 * Harmony School of Excellence 6–8 * Harmony Science Academy K-5 *Harmony School of Innovation

Lubbock

PreK-8 * Harmony Science Academy

Odessa

K-8 * Harmony Science Academy

San Antonio

6–12 * Harmony Science Academy Pre-k-8 * Harmony School of Innovation Prek-8 * Harmony School of Excellence

Waco

K-6 * Harmony Science Academy. 6–12 *Harmony School of Innovation.

References

External links

* {{coord missing, Texas Public education in Texas Gülen movement schools Charter management organizations