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      Achievement First

      Engaged Employer

      Achievement First reviews

      3.0

      35% would recommend to a friend

      (999 total reviews)
      avatar

      Fatimah Barker

      39% approve of CEO

      21% positive business outlook

      Ratings by demographic groups

      Achievement First has an employee rating of 3.0 out of 5 stars, based on 999 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

      999 reviews
      5.0
      Sep 10, 2017

      Strong mission, full-time dedication

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Serving underserved children with love Positive atmosphere and no lack of support Constructive feedback makes for fast growth

      Cons

      The job does not end when the day is done - always more to be done

      5.0
      Aug 4, 2017

      Achievement First

      Resident teacher
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Great team, feels like a family. It feels great to make a difference in the lives of children and AF truly cares about its students.

      Cons

      There is a lot of extra work, but as a teacher we remember why we do it.

      4.0
      Jul 21, 2017

      Great place to start your teaching career

      Teacher
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      *As a new teacher you will grow so fast in behavior management and best academic practices because of all the coaching, professional development, and observations. Leadership really steps it up and makes you want to do better to be the best teacher you can be for your students. *Everyone truly wants to do what's best for the kids. It's an inspiring place where no excuses are accepted. Every kid should and will learn. No excuses. *Results oriented. Everyone wants to see kids passing and succeeding. Best practices are shared with everyone so everyone can experience success, teachers and students alike. It's an amazing feeling seeing kids succeed, especially hard to reach and underserved students. *Great pay! After working there for 2.5 hears I made 65k and was scheduled to make 70k+ the following year. *Students really do learn a lot here. AF students work very hard and teachers do whatever they can to help them learn. * Teachers do their best create a team-like environment to help students in all subjects and across grade levels. *Overall, great place to get started as a teacher. You will learn so much so quickly and truly feel like you are making a difference in your students' lives.

      Cons

      *Because leadership team wants the best results and wants teachers to grow they micromanage your classroom. This means there are a lot of observations and constructive criticism. While this is helpful because we all want to learn and become the best teachers we can be, it can at times stifle the more creative and artistic side of teaching. It also can feel like you're teaching ability is constantly under scrutiny. *Long hours for teachers and students. School day from 7:15 to 4:15 (including breakfast, Lunch, and snack) Way too long! It tires teachers and students out on a daily basis. As a teacher, you get used to it after a while, but why? That extra hour or two does not equate into that much more learning because the students are tired by the last 45 minute period of the day. *Students need more time for play. Recess was 20 minutes long. Lunch was 20 minutes long. For elementary students, I do not think this is long enough, especially when you consider how long the school day is. Students need more time to be kids. We should be educating the whole child, and not just the strong focus on academics, even though the results are there. *Strict discipline policy for students that teachers must adhere to. Everyone must use the same behavior management policy, which is good in that it's consistent, but it can never be consistent because all teachers are different. School is very military-like when it comes to behavior and student culture. While this does show good results academically, it is very stressful for teachers and students alike.

      avatar
      Achievement First Response
      8y
      Thank you for your giving us such thoughtful feedback. Reading your review fired me up a bit when I read, “Every kid should and will learn. No excuses.” I share your appreciation for an environment where everyone truly wants to do what’s best for kids. In the same spirit, I appreciate your push as well. You hit on the fact that we “play as a team” to lead our schools and rely on our ability to hold the same expectations and use a school-wide approach in order to give kids a consistent experience. At the same time, we know that kids also need an authentic experience – in particular – they need to form authentic relationships with their teachers and see their unique personalities (just as teachers need to see the kids’ unique personalities). Doing both of those is really hard, and we’re not there yet in all of our schools. To make progress on this we are devoting more time and energy into our “real-time” coaching of teachers which rapidly improves the teacher’s instructional effectiveness AND their relationship building effectiveness. As you said it, we want teachers to be the best teacher they can be for their students. We are also launching a coordinated Student Investment priority across our schools for the 2018-2019 school year. This year we are spending time figuring out what aspects of student-teacher relationships are most effective and how we can make sure that teachers are empowered to be their unique selves while working as part of a consistent team for kids. Thanks again for taking the time to share your feedback. -Joey Roane, Director, Team School Culture
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