Achievement First reviews

3.0

35% would recommend to a friend

(998 total reviews)
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Fatimah Barker

39% approve of CEO

21% positive business outlook

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
1.0
Aug 1, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Before accepting a job at AF, I read all of the negative reviews on here and ignored them. THAT WAS A BIG MISTAKE. ALL of the negative reviews here are truthful. I would give zero stars if I could. Here are the only good parts about working for AF: The kids. The resources (free school supplies). Decent pay.

Cons

There are MANY negative things to say about AF. If you have a life outside of work (a family, hobbies, friends), do NOT accept a position at AF. At AF, I had NO time for myself. I was working from 6:00 AM-5:00 PM at the school, and then I worked until late at night at home grading and making lesson plans. Even after working so hard, they will still make you feel like you are doing a horrible job. As a result, my health declined considerably. The schools are run like a company. Many new teachers quit within the first weeks/months. Co-workers are cold and competitive. Lessons are SCRIPTED out for you. You will have to practice these scripted lessons in front of co-workers ALL the time. There is constantly someone in the classroom watching you teach (principal/deans). They evaluate you and give you a list of everything you did wrong. Then, afterwards, you have to practice teaching your lesson the "right" way. There are extremely strict rules for students (they can't talk in the hallways, they can't put their hands on their faces, their hands need to be on their desks at all times, etc). If you do not enforce these rules, you will have to practice your teaching even more. Very negative environment in the school. The teachers are students were very stressed and unhappy. DO NOT BELIEVE THE POSITIVE REVIEWS.

1.0
Jan 27, 2016

Run away while you can

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The pay is decent and the teachers I worked with were friendly and always willing the help in anyway possible.

Cons

Long hours and extremely stressfuls. Teachers are blamed for everything from student behavior to their performance. Behavior management is a joke and leadership team does not really take feedback and act on it. In some, treatment of teachers borders on bullying instead of supporting as they should.

2.0
Jan 11, 2016

Very stressful

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I did learn a lot in terms of academic content that I was able to apply to other jobs. If you can stomach the mistreatment of students, it is well-paid.

Cons

This is not the job for you if you can't "drink the cool-aid". This is a great job for you if you are a young teacher with no prior teaching experience or are Teach for America. The schools differ from school to school, but I found Endeavor Elementary to be way too strict in terms of student behavior. I saw students disciplined for offenses such as sneezing too loudly , bumping into another student on accident, or resting one's head on your hand while listening.

Viewing 22 - 24 of 998 Reviews

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.