Pros
Excellently run organization. Clear mission, solid curriculum, great students. Strong team culture due in part to a notion of “being in combat” together, changing lives, teaching our hearts out. Truly outstanding teaching faculty full of extremely dedicated and genuine educators. Your skills will be sharpened — it’s like the teaching olympics. Excellent merit-based salary scale.
Cons
It’s a complete pressure-cooker on teachers. Seems to run on a three-year burn-out model. Expectations on teachers - especially regarding lesson planning, assessment data analysis, and parent contact - outweigh the number of hours in a day, causing many faculty to feel guilty much of the time. Very poor work-life balance. Extremely high stakes testing & lesson evaluation culture tied to salary & retention. Very very little room for creativity in instruction.