Harmony DC Public Charter Schools

“Harmony public schools offers services that are an integral part of harmony dc's charter school operations and activities. Given the structural relationship between the two organizations, effective july 1, 2014, harmony public schools entered into a school services agreement with harmony dc public charter schools for a five-year period expiring on june 30, 2019. Services offered include education technology services, data network solutions, teacher and leadership coaching, and human resource and financial services.”

“As enacted by the articles of incorporation, harmony dc public charter schools has a sole member with voting rights as well as other rights and privileges as authorized by its governing documents. The sole member is harmony public schools, a separately incorporated texas not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) organization that operates multiple charter schools.”

“As enacted by the articles of incorporation, harmony dc public charter schools has a sole member with voting rights as well as other rights and privileges as authorized by its governing documents. The sole member is harmony public schools, a separately incorporated texas not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) organization that operates multiple charter schools. Because of the voting rights, the agent for harmony dc public charter schools has the ability to vote on matters as they relate to appointing one or more members of the governing body.”

“The ceo/principal of harmony dc public charter schools along with its outsourced bookkeeping firm review the draft form 990 information tax return as prepared by the accountants/auditors. Once reviewed and all suggested revisions are made, the form 990 is presented to the full board of directors for acceptance, including possible revisions. Once accepted, the 990 tax return is executed by the ceo/principal.”

“The conflict of interest policy is constantly monitored by administration personnel and the board of directors through review and approval procedures. Annually board members and staff complete a conflict of interest disclosure form identifying any relationships or circumstances which the board or staff member believes could contribute to a conflict of interest. Procedures; a.prior to board action on a contract or other transaction involving a conflict of interest, a board member having a conflict of interest shall disclose all facts material to the conflict or interest. Such disclosures shall be reflected in the minutes of the meeting. B.a person who has a conflict of interest shall not participate in the decision except to disclose material facts and to respond to questions. C.the person having a conflict of interest may not vote on the contract or transaction. D.staff members who have a conflict of interest with respect to a contract or transaction that is not the subject of board action shall disclose to the board chair any such conflict of interest. That staff member shall refrain from any action that may affect the school's participation in such contract or transaction. In the event it is not entirely clear that a conflict of interest exists, the individual with the potential conflict shall disclose the circumstances to the board chair.”

“The ceo/principal's compensation is determined and approved by the board through its governance committee using a written employment contract, form 990's of other organizations and other appropriate information related to comparable positions of similar sized organizations. Other employees' compensation is determined using similar sources and approved by the ceo/principal.”

“All governing documents, policies and financial statements are forwarded to the district of columbia public charter school board which provides oversight and distribution of relevant information to the public. The form 990 is made available to the general public upon request. In addition, the 990 information tax return is available for public inspection on guidestar.”

“The mission of the charter school is to prepare students for higher learning in a safe, caring, and collaborative atmosphere through a quality learner-centered educational program with a strong emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.”

“Project based learning program (pbl): harmony provides curriculum, instructional resources, and pbl training to the teachers. Instructional administrators and stem support teachers on site to assist the implementation of pbl. Professional development: harmony believes that content-focused professional development is a critical need to ensure the quality of teaching science and mathematics. Our stem training model has two major components; the mastery of content knowledge and delivery of the content with effective instructional practices. Stem culture: the department also provides strategies and resources for schools to build stem school atmosphere connecting the students to higher education. We design a variety of opportunities for students to take stem education "beyond the classroom- and see how today's instruction connects to career and lifelong learning. Approach: we are known for our project-based, hands-on approach to learning. Our approach is born out of the belief that kids learn best by exploring, discovering, and collaborating in carefully matched small groups. This is equally true in science and math as it is in english literature or art. This constructivist approach is a lot like tinkering. It encourages students to draw connections between disciplines and build on their previous experience. It gives them the time and space to test their ideas and to figure out how things in the world work. It shows them that you have to fail a lot in order to learn and that failure is at the heart of innovation and invention. This is the way 21st century skills are built. We believe that our small classrooms and collaborative learning style create an inviting, safe, and purposeful environment where students thrive. Walk into any classroom and you will see children peacefully solving their conflicts with the loving support of our dedicated teachers. Our behavioral expectations are clear and our students happily rise to meet them. Harmony's friendly and respectful atmosphere is contagious and carries on well after school is over. Assessment: we use amplify's dibels next and reading 3d, and nwea's map assessments to measure student growth and grade-level proficiency in math, reading, and language usage, taking a baseline at the beginning of the year and one at mid-terms. Progress monitoring assessments are used once a month to track student achievement more closely. The resulting data gives our teachers essential information about what each student knows so that they can create tutoring rosters, small groups, and targeted instructional plans to reinforce, develop, or introduce specific skills and concepts. Professional development: continuous and embedded professional development is the key for raising student achievement and we take it seriously at harmony. Every wednesday afternoon our teachers collaborate in a professional learning community (plc) to share their struggles and what works in a focused and powerful way. Outside of the formal plc structure, our teachers share their planning periods every day. Informally, you will often see our teachers working together after school into the evening hours. Customizable professional learning maps are built-in online to our math, english language arts, and science curricula. It allows teachers to reflect on and take control of their own pd, building content knowledge and instructional capacity that they can take directly to the classroom.”