Pros
Great opportunity to work one on one with students from diverse backgrounds, learning abilities/styles, personalities, with distinct educational /socio-emotional needs. One on one model allows you to see what strategies are effective/ineffective in a relatively short period of time, which is difficult in a large classroom setting. As you gain more experience teaching, and your knowledge and comfort level in your subject areas grow, and you can bring in resources/tools/learning platforms into your class, which you can use to expand on your craft. Ability to teach basically any class that you would want, is a good opportunity to get experience, especially when it comes to AP courses. There are many highly talented and hard working teachers who are very collaborative, supportive of each other and collegial. Opportunities exist to be an advisor in student groups/clubs during lunch, if one chooses.
Cons
High Turnover: Very high teacher and front desk staff turnover. Little to no investment made in staff retention, described by upper administration as a “stepping stone” job. High turnover creates lack of continuity for students, and constant loss of experienced and talented staff. School seems to either be in denial about this issue or not actually care/realize how such high amounts of staff turnover damages the schools capacity/ability/effectiveness to serve the vulnerable population of students that Tilden serves. The faculty page for the Albany and Walnut Creek campuses have been blank for months. Lack of Adequate Teacher Training: Very little training is given towards working with students with learning differences. The very limited teacher training that does exist (20 minutes, once a week, during teacher preparation time) is often topical due to limited time, and does not allow each topic the time and attention that it needs/deserves. Trainings seem to be targeted more toward satisfying reporting requirements rather than actually for the benefit of staff and students. Prep Time: An inadequate amount of time is given for preparation for one on one class instruction. 1 hour of preparation time is given for every 10 hours of instructional time which is paid at the reduced rate of $20 an hour (which is well below the $32-$37 an hour pay range for teachers) This inadequacy and devalorization runs in contradiction to one of the schools main points of emphasis of providing quality individualized instruction. Any class cancellations count against accrued preparation time. No Human Resources: Disciplinary issues are currently handled by upper administration which is a conflict of interest if issues arise involving a member of the upper administrative team. There is an outside HR consultant that is called in at the discretion of upper administration. Day to day HR issues are handled by a member of upper administration who also handles employee benefits/health insurance questions/issues. Bullying/Unprofessional Behavior/Nepotism: There has been a long history of unprofessional, bullying and retaliatory behavior perpetuated by current members of the upper administrative team including those who are in charge of curriculum and HR/benefits, who for years has been able to comport themselves in this way with impunity. Numerous complaints (documented & verbal) have been made to the current founders of the school and other persons on the upper management leadership team for years to no effect. Instead, upper management has acted to ignore, enable, excuse and cover up this behavior to the detriment of teachers, staff, and the school culture. Additionally, over the years many of the top leadership positions have been awarded not through merit and ability, but through a combination of nepotism and as a means to reward those who do not question /are not critical of the decisions made/ actions taken by members of the upper management team. This encourages pettiness, immaturity, vindictiveness, insecurity, gossip and insincerity to permeate through the upper levels of the school leadership. All of this creates an environment that is unproductive, toxic, incompetent and uncaring, which has greatly worsened in the last couple of years. Other Issues: Lack of real control / teacher feedback / collaboration in regards to the development of curriculum. No CFO or Controller exists within the school. Logistically, administratively and curriculum wise the school is consistently reactive instead of proactive.