Achievement First reviews

These schools - particularly those in NYC - grab people right out of undergrad with the promise to support you through your masters in education while you work as a "teacher in residence". What that really means is that the schools are full of unlicensed teachers being thrown into classes they don't know how to manage and then being blamed for the chaos. Over half the staff of AFBHS has quit since I did two years ago. Students are treated terribly - teachers are required to uphold draconian discipline standards and a huge number of students spend every day in lunch detention for infractions such as forgetting their ties or being late to school (regardless of the reason for their lateness). I felt like I was going insane being told that this was necessary for academic achievement. Also, as a queer teacher let me tell you the administration will not stand up for you in ANY way. Do not take a teaching job in this system.

enormous classes (well over 30 students in elementary classes), long days, an extended school year, very little prep time, little to no support for ELL students, professional development days amounted circle jerks about the "important work" we were doing but no concrete support for teachers, kids spent a lot of time stuck on their computers, teachers controlled students' bodies/how they walked in the hall/ sat at their desks etc and shamed them if they did not comply, many teachers were very strict with students to the point of verbal abuse with no oversight from administration