Achievement First reviews

3.0

35% would recommend to a friend

(998 total reviews)
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Fatimah Barker

39% approve of CEO

21% positive business outlook

Achievement First has an employee rating of 3.0 out of 5 stars, based on 998 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Achievement First employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Education industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

998 reviews
2.0
Oct 29, 2016

Overly Demanding

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

If you perform well you receive higher levels compensation

Cons

Unrealistic demands on time. Teachers are expected to be at work for 12 hours and to continue to work from home. Turn over rate it high due to burn out.

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Achievement First Response
9y
I appreciate you sharing these thoughts and helping keep this dialogue going. There's no question that you are right. The expectations are high for every member of the AF community: teachers, leaders, kids, and parents. Working 12 hours a day is not every teacher's experience, especially teachers who have stayed with AF and have mastered their content or learned how to maximize every minute of the day. But there's no question that the work is demanding and 12 hours a day is not unheard of, especially for teachers new to the organization. The ability for our committed teachers to stay with AF, even as their personal responsibilities and priorities expand, is incredibly important to us. We just finished a series of conversations with our stage 4 and 5 teachers asking them to help us figure this out. And this winter, we'll be engaging more teachers to create ideas for us to implement next year -- such as the staggered teacher schedules that we are currently piloting at multiple schools. It's a work in progress and I thank you again for sharing your experience and helping us keep this issue front and center. -Tom Kaiser, Chief Talent Officer
1.0
Sep 11, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good pay Always had money for materials and curriculum and had what we needed to teach

Cons

Way too much work. School culture was insane - a click of like minded women who refused to change anything even when it was broken. Incompetence was okay if you were admin who had been there a long time, but teachers were expected to be perfect.

2.0
Jun 29, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Teachers are there for one another. It is a sink or swim type of work environment so you need the support of your colleagues and for them most part, your grade level team will be very supportive.

Cons

Kids are not treated with respect. AF's behavior policies went against my moral compass and philosophy as an elementary educator. It is easy to get sucked in as a first year teacher because you are unsure of yourself and AF provides in-depth training and "observational coaching". While some PDs are academically focused and you learn best practices in your content area, many revolve around behavior training. Don't expect your creative idea to be heard as far as the curriculum goes .... even though the senior leadership team will reinvent the wheel every year bc they did not results with their programs last year.

Viewing 58 - 60 of 998 Reviews

Glassdoor has 1,020 Achievement First reviews submitted anonymously by Achievement First employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Achievement First is right for you.