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Acceleration Academies

Could be a great experience for everyone, if student success were the priority. This company purchases canned online software and students come and go in a cafe-like setting taking courses to make up the credits they missed in HS. Very little teaching or intellectual interchange happens here. Students work independently at computers and spend a lot of time outside the building smoking. Focus is on number of course completions each week and headcount during FTE. When to the company's advantage, they provide treats, prizes and transportation to get bodies in. They call the teachers "coaches" to generate positive rapport with students. There are a couple good coaches, but one demonstrates severe control issues and coupled with the director's ineptness and dishonesty, there is a toxic environment. Staff must use their personal cell phones because they won't purchase a phone system. There is no privacy in the open floor plan, and some "coaches" discuss student performance and behavior in front of other students. Penny pinching means part-time staff, so if the coach for a certain subject is not in, the student is on their own. One coach pretended to create a friendship with a student and then took unusual action to betray him to law enforcement. In Year 1, the staff turnover was nearly 100%. Math teacher,  English teacher, special ed - all quit. Even the transportation driver quit. First director, fired; 2nd was an elementary school counselor, clueless about young adults and promoted way over her head to director with no previous management experience. Instead of training her, they hired a regional "babysitter" to oversee and give lip service to "team" goals and desires. There is no team here. Rules are intermittently enforced so everyone is unsettled. When staff requested advice or training, director's answer was "Figure it out for yourself." The culture is sneaky and disingenuous, and they fire staff who don't go along with their charade.  There are 14 file boxes FILLED with folders of students who "dropped out" of this program Year 1. There are only two file drawers containing folders of graduates. I would not want my child to attend this "school."

This company doesn't believe that mental health services could be beneficial for the population they serve. So, if you're thinking about joining AA and you either specialize in mental health or you're working on a mental-health-related degree, please consider alternative work environments. The workplace, especially in Sarasota, is not inclusive or accepting of others who are different than the individuals who have been working at the same location for several years. If you are more on the reserved and introverted side as a worker and person, it will be used against you in the long run, especially if you speak up for yourself or disagree to any capacity. Employee "goals" will be SOLELY based on numbers, analytics, and information that is coming from individuals who are not even at the site. For example, forming a strong bond with one or two students will be overlooked and deemed as not enough. No accountability is had for students who make excuses on  as to why they have lacked communication or haven't completed their coursework in several weeks, especially when it has been determined that no challenges are being experienced or their lack of communication is not related to any physical illness  - it will always be blamed on the GCAs. This job will be promoted and advertised as fulfilling and one where all approaches and skills are welcomed, but unfortunately it's all superficial. The work itself is easy, seeing the youth graduate is very touching, and forming bonds with students and helping them through their challenges is always a great experience, but what sets the organization back 10 steps are the employees and toxic work environment. 

Working here was a frustrating experience due to poor leadership and a lack of professional accountability. Management often emphasized numbers over integrity, creating a toxic and discouraging environment for staff. Content coaches were pressured to pass students who hadn’t completed their work and to mark them as having “mastered” material without evidence, which violates ethical educational standards.

Staff were also left to handle frequent student misconduct without meaningful support. Inappropriate behavior during school hours was often ignored by leadership, even when it created an unsafe or unprofessional environment. Disrespect toward staff was common, and students were rarely held accountable, even when issues were escalated to the director.

If you value integrity, professionalism, and respect in the workplace, this may not be the right fit. The environment rewards compliance over ethics, and speaking up often leads to retaliation rather than change. Proceed with caution before applying.

As others have mentioned management is clueless. They are taking in nearly $200k annual salaries to act as cheerleaders (and bullies) with no actual plans for growth or sustainability. Professionalism is laughable, with the president of the company using his corporate card like a personal right based on the title he was given 6 years ago for a reason no one can pinpoint, admitting there is no plan for growth and using the relationships of board members and texting as his business growth plan. It's hard to say who is wearing the blindfold when it comes to strategy, the board, CEO or the president. They may all be protecting one another so that the scheme they are pushing on school districts isn't highlighted as selfish instead of selfless. Using minimal overhead and resources, Acceleration Academies rakes in 90% of public tax dollars to educate a student who only has to be at their facility 12 hours a week (compared to that of 35 of a public school). About $6000 per student, for those wondering. Those who fall in line with "leadership" are rewarded to stay hush, but hey, they get paid right??? 
Karma is real, I hope those in charge are at peace with themselves. The list is long, I will let others who leave continue this narrative.

The best part of this job was working with the students each day and supporting them in their endeavors to complete their high school education - despite the many other short-comings of the way the Miami region was managed.  For those who hold a professional license and experience - A.A. fails to offer a competitive work environment and compensation package when compared with similar employers.  It is a depressive vs dynamic workplace culture - a temporary job versus a long-term career.  This is an "alternative educational" learning environment, yet the various school sites are not set up with student/staff safety in mind via logistics, protocols/practices, and security.  Management lacks effective leadership and team-building skills - skills necessary in the field of human services.  She touts false promises to employees, ranging from job positions to "unlimited" time off.  The manager employs divisive and bullying tactics in an effort to achieve her weekly data marks.

I am coming up on my 1st full year and having been privy to a lot from various areas, I am still excited to be a part of this organization and see it's grand potential as we seek to grow. In order to grow, some dead weight must be removed and these are the individuals that inhabit a previous culture of do-nothing and get paid. There are only a few of those people who exist, but they hold the organization back, are cancerous to the morale, and can make others who do work hard feel less valued (especially when they are paid handsomely to keep f**king up). A lot of senior educators work here and present opportunities to learn more. 

An improved focused on DEI could be put into place to ensure that our management and leadership reflects the student population we serve across the board. At times, the view feels like saviourism because of the lack of DEI that exists. Still a work in progress, I guess. 

Overall, great company. Great mission. And it is rewarding seeing young people find their place with AA to improve their outlook and outcomes in life. 

I worked there as a Career/Life Coach. A typical day for me was to enrolling students in classes and setting up one-on-one sessions to discuss their graduation track.  They only cared about their bottom line and that's money. The culture is to get as many students in as possible. They do not believe in building relationships with staff, they are results driven. The most enjoyable part was meeting the students and staff and seeing the students meet their goals. The hardest part of the job was onboarding. Their systems they had in place always had glitches which gave the wrong data of when the students would graduate. The upper-level management were very toxic. They have a culture that does not support professional development. If you see flaws in the curriculum or systems they create, you get penalized for addressing them. Do not work here. Work for a school district. You're way better off and will have more support.

Acceleration Academies is the kind of company that, for the right kind of student, is a life changer. I've seen students go from the very start of their high school career to getting their high school diploma and being the first person in their family to go onto college. 

There's a great deal of freedom for teachers to express their teaching style and meet students where they are. 

Why three stars then? Because for every student like that, you run into students who simply do not want to play ball. Fair enough, when you're dealing with teenagers, but seeing that you are judged based on the performance of your case load it becomes very frustrating to see a dozen students who may as well have fled the country for how likely you are to see them again really drains morale. 

Add onto this some issues of enforcement for policies, gaps in procedure and turnover and you have a place that makes dreams come true and crushes your soul in equal measure. 

Working at Acceleration Academies was a difficult experience due to a toxic staff culture and lack of consistent leadership. While co-directors often present themselves as supportive, in practice they are two-faced and inconsistent. There is no clear method for how academies are run; each site seems to operate differently, with no real systems in place. Processes and expectations can change from one moment to the next without any transparent guidance or structure—what matters most is the outcome leadership wants, not how it is achieved.
In addition, support staff are able to conspire and collude to undermine supervisors when held accountable, which creates a hostile environment for those in leadership roles. The absence of accountability, aligned systems, and consistent processes makes the workplace unstable and stressful.

The company prefers to hire external candidates, even when there are better qualified candidates from within. Promotions, raises, bonuses, and stipends are incredibly difficult to negotiate (even after working there for years). Corporate will make promises on your compensation but rarely deliver.

The work with students themselves and the culture at my campus was AMAZING. I love my students, my role in supporting them, and for the first time I can wholeheartedly say that every single coworker was competent and agreeable. I could always count on my team and immediate supervisor for support.  

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Coach 20 salaries reported	$68,750 per year
Mathematics teacher 5 salaries reported	$67,600 per year
Science teacher 9 salaries reported	$70,944 per year
Social studies teacher 7 salaries reported	$70,714 per year
Teacher/coach 106 salaries reported	$70,604 per year

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