7y
Thanks for sharing your opinion of AF. While it’s a tough one to swallow in some ways, I think you hit on some very real things, and this review can help people learn about our organization. You’re right that we constantly looking for best teaching practices and we’re big Teach Like a Champion fans because we think Doug Lemov has done so much strong work to define those and we try to avoid recreating the wheel. But, if specific techniques are causing a teacher to lose their voice or not be themselves - then they aren’t working. We are really striving for both: take advantage of proven techniques and always show kids your authentic self, because a teacher’s power ultimately comes from their care and not any one technique.
We have really high expectations for our kids that not all would agree with -- and that we work hard to be totally up front with (because we believe in them and want people to join with us who also believe in them). But if those expectations are ever placing compliance ABOVE what our kids need to be successful lifelong learners, or creating an overall negative classroom culture, then you are right to raise a flag. The #1 goal of our organization over the next five years is to raise the college completion rate. To do so, we’re pursuing stronger social-emotional learning & curriculum, AP for all, and a network priority of stronger student investment. We will do that without also losing our focus on creating sacred learning spaces for all of our kids, because we don’t think it’s an either/or.
In terms of work hours, it’s good to flag that our teachers and leaders do often bring work home when they are new to Achievement First. The hours are real for everyone, but definitely more so for people getting used to their school and to AF. It’s demanding work, and our job is to find ways to make it easier (we’re at the tail-end of a multi-year push to create daily lesson resources for all teachers) and avoid making it harder than it needs to be. We’re far from done, and we’re even working with 40 teachers across the network next month to learn more about how they are spending all of their time in order to see if there are ways we can better support.
