Rocketship Public Schools reviews

- ZERO work/life balance - Most the people managing/leading you, were learning how to teach a year or two before you (any other non-charter public school district is going to have many leaders and teachers with decades and decades and decades of experience to help you). That is a lot and this is the kind of job that requires that kind of commitment to mastery. You won't find anyone with that kind of resume at Rocketship Public Schools. - Age discrimination, they want you young and naïve so they can burn all your waking hours away. - If you are strong-willed or stand up for yourself, you wont be liked. - The school network is led by a CEO not a superintendent. Think about it for a moment. Exactly. - the school network does not believe in physical exercise, if they did they would allow more than a couple measly breaks outside for the kiddos. Compared to most schools, these kids receive less than half the normal physical education. Not cool. - The school treats their hours more like daycare than like a school. No elementary kiddos need to be in school from 7:45 am to 4:15 pm. They specifically do this to appeal to parents with busy schedules. Anyone who has worked in a public school district knows, that it doesn't take many hours of high-quality instruction to teach a new concept. Why does this charter need two extra hours of instruction? They want to sell their classrooms to parents. Hence they have a CEO. It is a business.

1. This is not a sustainable place to work. Unlike many young Rocketship employees, I am not new to the field. I did not go into this work because I wanted any "easy job". I wanted a meaningful one. Working at Rocketship left me a burnt-out shell of myself in a way that no other job has before. 2. The special education department claims to operate using an "inclusion" model. Inclusion is great in theory. However, pushing students with IEPs into general education classrooms without adequate support is not true inclusion. And it's a recipe for teacher burnout. I noticed that the turnover rate is especially high within the ISE (special education) department. 3. Rocketship operates with a very narrow focus on test scores, data, and compliance. Closing the achievement gap and serving low-income communities needs to be about more than test scores. There is so much more to a child. So, so much more. 4. Micromanagement. You will feel like you are back in college and will be "coached" and "graded" on essentially everything. This is largely due to the fact that Rocketship hires so many teachers who do not actually have a teaching credential. If you prefer to operate as an autonomous adult who is capable in their role, this is not the place for you.