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      Achievement First

      Engaged Employer

      Achievement First reviews

      3.0

      35% would recommend to a friend

      (998 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 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
      5.0
      Jun 8, 2017

      Rewarding and demanding

      Teacher
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      I'm finishing my fifth year at an Achievement First Middle School. I came to AF after mixed results teaching in a district ran school and a different charter school. My first year at AF was powerful--because of the systems at my school, I was able to get closer to my goal of providing every student with an excellent education. Previously, I was able to serve kids that were invested in school, but I struggled to reach kids that seemed uninterested and/or misbehaved consistently. I realized, though, that it wasn't the systems themselves that helped me, but the team of teachers I worked with that prioritized our collective vision rather than their individual classrooms. I recently attended the "high school senior signing day" for the 8th graders I taught five years ago and it was extremely rewarding to learn which colleges they would be attending in the fall: UPENN, Carleton, Colombia, Lafayette, Skidmore, etc. I believe AF is truly expanding the life opportunities for almost every student in our schools and am proud to be part of this team. On a more personal note, I feel like my coach at AF has helped me significantly improve each year. I feel fortunate to have a job where I am improving each day.

      Cons

      I love this work and it has become all consuming at times. I regularly put in much more than 60 hour work weeks. There have been times where the amount of work I have on my plate has been stressful and I have struggled to give my family the time I want to give them. Another significant stress agent is the irregular schedules my school frequently has. Our days are long, 7:15-4:15, and irregular schedules for events such as interim assessments can lead to me having fewer much cherished preparation blocks.

      avatar
      Achievement First Response
      8y
      Thanks for your positive and kind feedback. It’s great to hear that both the systems and collaboration at your school led to academic gains for your kids. We believe in our bones that this work is only possible if we all row together. In regards to your point about more extracurricular activities, we definitely agree that our scholars need to spend time exploring their passions and skills outside the classroom. If you haven’t already, you should check out our Greenfield Model. At each Greenfield school, scholars have enrichment classes twice a day, and then also engage in expeditions a few times throughout the year. These expeditions get scholars out of the classroom and into the community to engage in various learning projects. We’re proud of the work we’ve done with Greenfield and are excited to build upon that throughout the rest of the network. Thanks again for taking the time to review us and best of luck with the start of the school year. -Tom Kaiser, Chief Talent Officer
      1.0
      May 4, 2013

      Robot and Military School = AF Bushwick Elementary

      Kindergarten teacher
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Competitive salary, great co-workers, and of course amazing kids!!!!

      Cons

      This place is probably the worst place I have ever worked at as a teacher. I have never wittnessed an organization that burns out more talented, hardworking and genuinely nice individuals than this place. The culture of "no excuses" tranlsated itself into a "blame-culture" where teachers are nitpicked at and criticized for every single piece of information throughout their day. Instead of a student-centered environment where students are the focus, teachers are seen as "robot controllers" and asked to "control" students so they would never "misbehave." Whenever a child acted out in my classroom, I was told that "I let them misbehave," instead of having a dialogue where we could discuss ways to support the student and the teacher. Kindergarten students are given corrections when their hands are not folded in a "SLANT" position and students frequently get reprimanded for talking for good reasons. My students were chastised for telling their friends "Are you okay?" "I'll help you." During meetings students are never discussed and the principal presented on reading level goals as a way to make more money for the AF Report Card. This is probably the worst place and I only thank AF for this year becuase now I know how a school should NOT be run. Leadership has made many derragatory comments to the community by referring to them as "under-priveleged kids who only respond to 'yelling' because that is what they know." I was also told that some of my kids are "retartded and have issues." Needless to say my eyes rolled backwards and I am so glad to say that I am leaving this organization for good. What AF says they are on paper is not who they really are. They are obssessed with projecting their self-made image, do not care about individual kids and run their organization like a coporation.

      4.0
      May 3, 2018

      Rewarding but not without Challenges

      Elementary teacher
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Working at Achievement First has been one of the best career choices I have made. It's important for me to be at a place where I can make an impact everyday, there are always opportunities to learn and grow and EVERYONE has a vast amount of knowledge. I am finishing up my first year as a classroom teacher and it has been amazing to see the great things my kids have learned so far. Seeing students fall in love with reading, math and writing just to name a few is such a beautiful experience. Academically AF sets the bar high to ensure instruction will challenge students and set them up for success.

      Cons

      Balance. Finding a balance between work and your personal life can be challenging. With a career as a teacher it's very easy to take your work home, and eventually it can lead to a extremely long day. That is one of my biggest challenges finding the balance in it all. Sometimes your day can be filled with meetings so your preps will be sacrificed and so forth.

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      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.