Mastery Schools reviews

4.0

75% would recommend to a friend

(509 total reviews)
avatar

Dr. Joel Boyd

69% approve of CEO

74% positive business outlook

Mastery Schools has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 509 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Mastery Schools 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

509 reviews
1.0
Dec 8, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Professional Development for teachers is pretty good. I have learned a lot about classroom management in teaching as Mastery.

Cons

- Administrators are clueless and have no clue on how to run a school. Most do not have sufficient experience and some are not even certified to teach or be a principal in PA. - You are micromanaged to the point of no return. They even tell you how your students should be passing papers. Hmm…. - The curriculum at Mastery is WAY above the students ability level. In most cases, students feel unaccomplished because the work is not appropriate. To make it even better, admin will continue to observe you and tell you that you are teaching the content incorrectly or that you aren't following the structures, and thus this effects your evaluation and can eventually lead to terminiation. - Admin could care less about the students, staff, or parents. Their job is to micromanage kids and adults, fabricate an orderly school where kids are learning, which ultimately leads to them getting more money for more schools, and thus screwing up the lives of more children and adults. IT IS ALL A BUSINESS! - Many of the administrators try to relate to the struggles of inner city students, but simply cannot. - Pay sucks and you are overworked all the time. You pretty much have to create your own "work-life balance" because they have no interest in creating one for you.

1.0
Nov 10, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good salary, good benefits, holidays and June, July and August. Some staff are competent and supportive.

Cons

I was actually told that "kids should not be reading in Science class, because it's not a Reading class" by an assistant principal. School admin is young, and some have no clue how to do their jobs. Lots of management is out of touch with reality including school culture principals who sit and hide in their office all day and then complain when they are called to your room. They will give you new tasks with no time to implement and integrate with fidelity. There are deans that just hide out in their office as well instead of actually being in the halls and floors to be proactive. Admin's job is to squeeze you into submission and pump out TFA "drones who question nothing and comply at all times. "They don't want kids reading in Science because it's not a Reading class..." yeah ok. You will lose tons of preps to stupid meetings with admin. Your observations are daily and their discipline policy is way too lax! Not enough support or staff. Everything falls back to the teachers...Way too many extra duties, too much stress, not a supportive environment which is why they hate the union. Do as your told and don't question the status quo. Not worth it. I had 120 students in 5 classes and my assistant principal expected me to call every single kid who got out of their seat without permission every day. Yeah ok....2 hours per day of making phone calls-again not a reasonable request. I also had a colleague that taught 40 kids in each of his sections without an assistant. Get ready to do "wall talk" and practice teaching imaginary students while staring at and talking to a wall. Yes...no joke. This place was so bizarre. Beware of the 'cult'ure and stay away from the cool-aid. They run it like a business...you are a number to them and so are the students. Their aim is to crush the unions, acquire more public schools and profit off the backs of the students (though their "venture philanthropists" will never tell you that). Stay away!

1.0
Sep 14, 2016

Misguided

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There were a lot of dedicated teachers and staff. Many of the teachers were friendly, but many also were very egotistical. Pay was good, but not worth it. I currently make the same amount at a public school where I am valued and respected.

Cons

Teachers and students are treated like numbers. The staff and administration only dedicated time to teachers and classes who are tested subjects. If you are not, then your job is not valuable and therefore you are not valued as a person either. They also promote certain teachers very quickly to administrative positions so you have 25 year olds serving as leadership and they are completely unqualified and inexperienced. There was very little support and the support that was offered was strange and unhelpful. (Example...Writing several page lesson plans and scripting every word. Not rational or practical). I am an intelligent, hardworking, and very successful educator. I almost quit teaching all together after working here because they made me feel like I was a terrible teacher and worthless.

Viewing 4 - 6 of 509 Reviews

Glassdoor has 528 Mastery Schools reviews submitted anonymously by Mastery Schools employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Mastery Schools is right for you.