Achievement First reviews

It is very easy to get burned out working here. The unwritten, unofficial expectation is that you work incredibly long hours, both after school and on the weekends. I spent 3 years at AF and couldn't imagine having to be there another minute. The long hours and days aren't conducive to a long term career there, especially if you want to start and have a family. The people there try to tell you otherwise, but don't believe it. I have never been so exhausted and overwhelmed from working at a place. The emails from leadership are constant and will come at 8:00 at night and on Saturdays and Sundays. You can never really shut off from working here. Leadership is very inexperienced and lacks a lot of education knowledge. Many administrators spent about 5 years in the classroom, did not go through formal education training...and it shows. For some reason, there is too fast a track to get good teachers out of the classroom and into administration. Leaders are trained internally and do not get nearly enough of what they need to be really impactful. There is little room to be outspoken and challenge organizational and school practices and beliefs. I found that those who did so were either shunned or pushed out. There is hubris that is pervasive throughout the organization's leadership and an unwillingness to openly admit to teachers that the network still has much work to do.

- long hours - additional duties for teachers (lunch/recess, arrival/dismissal, hallway duties and "posts," etc.) - no substitute teachers, teachers provide coverage - lack of professionalism from admin and coworkers - unqualified admin and staff (uncertified, out-of-field teachers with unrelated degrees; very young admin with little qualifications or experience outside of AF) - toxic work environment (cliquey administration and staff; gossip-driven culture) - micromanaged and nitpicked teachers about school systems (no teacher autonomy; must conform to AF style of teaching) - little to no support for student behavior (teachers often blamed for poor classroom management despite classes having 30-36 students with solo teachers) - non-transparent and misleading hiring practices (as well as pay) - non-transparent and misleading family and staff communication - no ESL services provided; no certified ESL teachers on staff - highly illegal and non-compliant special education practices - Network (district) more focused on expanding the charter network rather than improving current school conditions