Achievement First reviews

Thanks for your review and feedback here! Our scholars take network-wide assessments 3-5 times per year depending on academy level. We agree that it’s hard to get the right balance between finding out exactly what kids know (so we can tailor our instruction and support) and reaching a point of testing fatigue. We’re continually reviewing our assessments (doing so currently for next year!) to try and hit that balance as best we can and we appreciate the feedback in that light. Thanks again and have a great rest of the school year! -Cristina Tokeshi, Vice President, Team Academic Operations

This is tough feedback but I appreciate you leaving it. It’s important that we continue to hear firsthand from the challenges our people have faced – and are facing. There’s no question that this mission requires a lot of hard work and it can be a serious challenge to succeed while fitting all the other incredibly important pieces of your life together. There is probably not a person at AF – or at any organization achieving similar levels of success – that isn’t feeling this challenge to a greater and lesser extent. However, there are a few things you stated in your review that are not factually accurate and I would like the opportunity to correct. You stated that we consistently have over 33% turnover. Our staff retention is a matter of record and we’ve never had turnover that high…ever. That being said, we have consistently seen 20% or more of our team transition each school year, which is still a high number (though it has more recently been getting stronger and moving in the right direction). You also shared that at your school less than 20% of people felt that “admin” cared about their work-life balance. I don’t know your school, but when we last surveyed every school team in December, most teammates in the network felt we valued their personal priorities (54%) and just shy of half (45%) anticipated staying at AF for at least the next 5 years. Again – these are low numbers that still VERY MUCH speak to the challenge you captured in your feedback and that we take incredibly seriously. We are more successful in this work when our strong teachers stay longer and we care deeply about making it easier for our school teams to succeed in this mission. We just (last week) asked for feedback from every teacher at AF on a host of potential measures for next year: from day care support, to network priorities, to which perks could make a difference. This is a challenge facing so much of the ed-reform sector and we are committed to leading the way on innovation and progress. -Tom Kaiser, Chief Talent Officer