THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: Much greater than expected: 2010-2011 Gulen charter school enrollment was 44,727

Monday, March 12, 2012

Much greater than expected: 2010-2011 Gulen charter school enrollment was 44,727

In August 2010, USA Today’s Greg Toppo wrote that Gulen movement-associated charter schools “educate as many as 35,000 students — taken together they'd make up the largest charter school network in the USA — and have imported thousands of Turkish educators over the past decade.”

At long last, the actual enrollment for the 2010-2011 school year has been tallied. The total is 44,727, nearly 10,000 students greater than the figure suggested by USA Today.

It is important to note that eleven new charter schools were added to the Gulen movement’s U.S. network at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year. However, two of their schools were closed in the summer of 2011, one because of extremely low enrollment (Magnolia Science Academy San Diego 2 in California) and the other for a host of extremely serious problems (Abramson Science and Technology Charter School in Louisiana).

The following enrollment figures were obtained from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

State	School Name	2010-2011
AR	LISA Academy - Little Rock	306
	LISA Academy - North Elementary (Sherwood)	214
	LISA Academy - North High (Sherwood)	52
	LISA Academy - North Middle (Sherwood)	162
	LISA Academy High School - Little Rock	170

AZ	Paragon Science Academy	490
	Sonoran Science Academy - Ahwatukee	118
	Sonoran Science Academy - Broadway	322
	Sonoran Science Academy – Davis-Monthan AFB	163
	Sonoran Science Academy - Phoenix	267
	Sonoran Science Academy - Phoenix Metro	68
	Sonoran Science Academy - Tucson	799

CA	Bay Area Technology School	188
	Magnolia Science Academy - San Diego	308
	Magnolia Science Academy - San Diego 2**	8
	Magnolia Science Academy - Santa Clara	102
	Magnolia Science Academy 1 - Reseda	499
	Magnolia Science Academy 2 - Valley	227
	Magnolia Science Academy 3 - Carson (Gardena)	257
	Magnolia Science Academy 4 - Venice	105
	Magnolia Science Academy 5 - Hollywood	156
	Magnolia Science Academy 6 - Palms	168
	Magnolia Science Academy 7 - Van Nuys	96
	Magnolia Science Academy 8 - Bell	441
	Pacific Technology School - Orangevale	151
	Pacific Technology School - Santa Ana*	98

CO	Lotus School for Excellence	607

FL	New Springs Middle School	113
	Orlando Science Middle School	425
	River City Science Academy	551
	River City Science Academy - Elementary	219
	STARS Middle School	181
	Sweetwater Branch Academy (or SB Middle School)	124
	Sweetwater Branch Academy Elementary School	146

GA	Fulton Science Academy High School****	233
	Fulton Science Academy Middle School***	506
	Fulton Sunshine Academy Elementary School	408

IL	Chicago Mathematics [or Math] and Science Academy	596
	Quest Charter Academy	219

IN	Indiana Math & Science Academy - North	316
	Indiana Math & Science Academy - [West]	502

LA	Abramson Science and Technology Charter School**	591
	Kenilworth Science and Technology Charter School	447

MA	Hampden Charter School of Science	234
	Pioneer Charter School of Science	294

MD	Chesapeake Science Point	330

MI	Michigan Math and Science Academy	214

MO	Frontier School of Excellence*****	242
	Frontier School of Innovation	407
	Gateway Science Academy of St. Louis	340

NC	Triad Math and Science Academy	421

NJ	Bergen Arts and Science Charter School (elementary)	502
	Central Jersey College Prep	285
	Paterson Charter School for Science and Technology	733

NM	Albuquerque School of Excellence	214

NV	Coral Academy of Science - Las Vegas	822
	Coral Academy of Science - Reno Elementary	445
	Coral Academy of Science - Reno Middle/High School	357

NY	Buffalo Academy of Science Charter School	382
	Rochester Academy Charter School	260
	Syracuse Academy of Science Charter School	467

OH	Horizon Science Academy Cincinnati	347
	Horizon Science Academy Cleveland (High School)	458
	Horizon Science Academy Cleveland Elementary School	144
	Horizon Science Academy Cleveland Middle School	153
	Horizon Science Academy Columbus (High School)	377
	Horizon Science Academy Columbus Elementary School	286
	Horizon Science Academy Columbus Middle School	309
	Horizon Science Academy Dayton	153
	Horizon Science Academy Dayton Downtown	130
	Horizon Science Academy Dayton High School	252
	Horizon Science Academy Denison Elementary School	168
	Horizon Science Academy Denison Middle School	316
	Horizon Science Academy Lorain	188
	Horizon Science Academy Springfield	245
	Horizon Science Academy Toledo	257
	Horizon Science Academy Toledo Downtown	108
	Horizon Science Academy Youngstown	197
	Noble Academy - Cleveland	226
	Noble Academy - Columbus	186

OK	Discovery School of Tulsa	400
	Dove Science Academy - OK City	458
	Dove Science Academy - Tulsa	395
	Dove Science Academy Elementary School - OK City	304

PA	Truebright Science Academy	350
	Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania Charter School	172

TN	Memphis School of Excellence	277

TX	Harmony School of Advancement High - Houston	280
	Harmony School of Art and Technology - Houston	419
	Harmony School of Discovery - Houston	379
	Harmony School of Endeavor - Houston	475
	Harmony School of Excellence - Austin	508
	Harmony School of Excellence - Houston	771
	Harmony School of Ingenuity - Houston	502
	Harmony School of Innovation - Dallas	514
	Harmony School of Innovation - El Paso	495
	Harmony School of Innovation - Houston	592
	Harmony School of Innovation - San Antonio	177
	Harmony School of Nature and Athletics - Dallas	479
	Harmony School of Science – Austin******	526
	Harmony School of Science - Houston	622
	Harmony Science Academy - Austin	335
	Harmony Science Academy - Beaumont	500
	Harmony Science Academy - Brownsville	417
	Harmony Science Academy - Bryan / College Station	288
	Harmony Science Academy - Dallas	985
	Harmony Science Academy - El Paso	737
	Harmony Science Academy - Euless	578
	Harmony Science Academy - Fort Worth	601
	Harmony Science Academy - Garland	421
	Harmony Science Academy - Grand Prairie	524
	Harmony Science Academy - Houston	357
	Harmony Science Academy - Houston Northwest	665
	Harmony Science Academy - Laredo	632
	Harmony Science Academy - Lubbock	421
	Harmony Science Academy - North Austin	561
	Harmony Science Academy - Odessa	247
	Harmony Science Academy - San Antonio	727
	Harmony Science Academy - Waco	597
	Harmony Science Academy High School - Houston	389
	School of Science and Technology - Alamo	355
	School of Science and Technology - Corpus Christi	362
	School of Science and Technology - San Antonio	421
	School of Science and Technology Discovery	369

UT	Beehive Science and Technology Academy	233

WI	Wisconsin Career Academy	342

TOTAL ENROLLMENT DURING 2010-2011 IN 126 SCHOOLS = 44,727

*Sometimes referred to as PTS – Orange County

**Closed at the end of the 2010-2011 school year

***Formerly Cosmos Science Academy
**** Formerly TEACH School
***** Formerly Brookside-Frontier Math and Science School

******Mislabeled as a second Harmony Science Academy - Austin at NAPCS website

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Eleven new Gulen charter schools opened in 2011

FL	New Springs Elementary School
MD	Chesapeake Math and IT Academy
MD	Baltimore IT Academy
MN	Minnesota School of Science
NJ	Bergen Arts and Science Charter School Middle High
NJ	Passaic Arts and Science Charter School (elementary)
PA	Young Scholars of Western Pennsylvania Charter School
TX	Harmony School of Political Science and Communication - Austin
TX	Harmony Science Academy - West Houston
TX	Harmony School of Science High - Sugar Land
WI	Milwaukee Math and Science Academy

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Inform yourself about the Gulen movement!

1. WATCH the Gulen Movement 101: Session One webinar presentation (1/22/2014)
2. READ the "Expose the Gulen Movement" report.
3. LISTEN to my interview with At The Chalk Face , slide marker to 32:00 min. (5/19/2013)
4. WATCH the 60 Minutes segment "U.S. charter schools tied to powerful Turkish imam" broadcast. (5/13/2012)
5. READ my response to the 60 Minutes piece.
6. READ my guest article about Gulen charter schools published by The Washington Post. (3/27/2012)
7. WATCH my interview talking about Gulen charter schools, or my presentation at LaborFest (segment between 49:18 min. & 1:07:36 min.)
8. READ my postings labeled "Gulen movement" HERE.

As one observer tweeted, "U.S. media have focused too much on the Islamic nature of the Gulen movement. Real concern is its shady dealings and improprieties."

Please be aware that Gulenists have created a large number of anonymously-operated damage control websites. They started to appear a few months after publication of Greg Toppo's article in USA Today (August 2010).

WE CAN DO IT!

Jim Hightower on populism:

"... what populism is at its essence is just a determined focus on helping people be able to get out of the iron grip of the corporate power that is overwhelming our economy, our environment, energy, the media, government."

Jim Hightower on plutocracy:

"Plutocracy and democracy don't mix."

More Jim Hightower HERE.
Read his Lowdown newsletter HERE.

Plutocracy is rule by the wealthy, or power provided by wealth. In a plutocracy, the degree of economic inequality is high while the level of social mobility is low.

On Bill Gates' ed reform

Joel Shatzky's comment on Huffington Post:

The inferior "test-prep" agenda which bases the pedagogically fraudulent "data" standardized test scores serves as a way of diverting the concerns of working parents who hope that better test scores will lead to better job opportunities for their children. If they realized that they were being given a con job, they might consider other, more "active" forms of political and social protest than simply lobbying for more money for charter and public schools.

New wealth gap report

Research and Policy Brief from the Institute on Assets and Social Policy, Brandeis University, May 2010:

"New evidence reveals that the wealth gap between white and African-American families has more than quadrupled over the course of a generation."

You absolutely must click on this link to view the graph.

Now compare that graph to the one you'll see here.

Now read this entry.

And if you are a person who blames the schools, or believes they are responsible for fixing these problems, you can stop that type of thinking right now.

A Keeper

Posted on the Oakland Public School Parents listserv by a member:*

As a public health nurse, I am working with a generation of young parents who were drug-exposed, who are now having children who are drug-exposed, and it's a whole new ballgame. Many who were premature and will carry some deficits for life.

There are also many other families who have several generations of all kinds of abuse, not enough to eat, violence in and out of their homes, as well as chronic exposure to pollution and nutritional deficits. And there are regular people in the same neighborhoods who are just trying to live, but are poor and can't get ahead.

And there is major grief, and continuous LOSS. So many folks have lost so many folks, people around them dying, of one thing or another, every month almost. Young people (cousins, brothers, friends) dying from violent means, the elders dying too young of chronic disease and disparities in health care, among other things.

What we know about learning and development is that stressed nervous systems CANNOT learn, and that's what we have. Children with many major stressors. Abandonment, attachment disorders, fear, post traumatic stress, sadness, inability to trust or sleep. Many children. Many.

Resulting in: Lack of impulse control, lack of executive function, difficulty in expressing and controlling emotions, difficulty in sleeping, holding still, and paying attention, not to mention following directions and prioritizing tasks.

Our teachers will (perhaps already do) need more training, support, and smaller class sizes. They need major support and help with mental health issues. We really need some kind of expanded vocational track for those who can't perform even at the community college level.

We can't expect teachers to undo years and years of living. The availability of universal preschool would help. Sometimes a classroom is the first kindly, safe, structured, stimulating environment a child encounters.

Wise insights such as these are never uttered by people like Eli Broad, Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee, Arne Duncan, Joe Williams, or any others who are of this type of school reform ilk. And this is why I know for certain that they just don't "get it." Maybe they don’t want to, OR maybe they don’t care.

* Thank you, B.R.

What Children Need

From Playing to Learn by Susan Engel (New York Times, 2/1/2010):

"Our current educational approach — and the testing that is driving it — is completely at odds with what scientists understand about how children develop during the elementary school years and has led to a curriculum that is strangling children and teachers alike.

…Simply put, what children need to do in elementary school is not to cram for high school or college, but to develop ways of thinking and behaving that will lead to valuable knowledge and skills later on."

And to tag onto that, check out this video about the wood shop at one of Oakland's middle schools.

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Monday, March 12, 2012

Much greater than expected: 2010-2011 Gulen charter school enrollment was 44,727

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