preschool teacher

family advocate

substitute teacher

elementary school teacher

assistant teacher

Acelero, Inc.

October of last year, 2018, I accepted a position as an On Call Substitute Teacher with Acelero Learning. I accepted the position because my children were enrolled in the program and I was looking for part-time employment so I thought, temporarily, this position was perfect. 
 The issues began the first day of a week long orientation. I was warned by an employee, who had been with the facility long before Acelero took over, that Acelero doesn’t care about their employees. I was warned to do exactly as I was told because the company doesn’t accept the suggestions or opinions of any of their employees. “They will fire you and move on like nothing happened before they change ANYTHING for you! So don’t come in here thinking you’re going to change anything!” I thought this was just an employee having a bad day so I took it with a grain of salt and preceded with orientation. Soon after I found his words to be 100% true. Not only do they not care about their employees, they don’t care about the kids they’re tricking parents into enrolling. 
 During my 8 mos of employment with Acelero I witnessed teacher after teacher resign due to  the unprofessionalism, dishonesty, manipulation, negligence and bullying of Acelero leadership. Teachers are forced to work most days without receiving a break. During orientation we watched several videos discussing the importance of taking a break when dealing with children to ensure our mental/emotional health but very rarely got one. I was in a classroom once with a teacher who was overwhelmed and called for stress relief. This employee had never done this before and really needed the break. We had two new infants in our room, a new kid who had never been in school or away from his family and a couple other kids from a different classroom because Acelero was down to one teacher per room (the classrooms were full). Leadership said they would come relieve this employee but never did. Leadership never even called back to say they weren’t coming or to find out if the employee was ok. They weren’t. They cried. 
 The employees are made to fabricate things on the children’s daily reports, ilps etc... Ex. The children didn’t start going outside for walks until late spring of 2019 but all of the reports prior to that date said the children went outside every single day. Also, the meal menu the parents are given at the beginning of the month is for show. They don’t follow the menu. One week the children literally had cereal for breakfast and snack on four occasions. There’s only five days in a week. There was a health scare that occurred with an infant due to this, “discrepancy.” The teachers were immediately thrown under the bus. Leader will always throw the teachers under the bus. Right or wrong, they will accept no responsibility and literally side with the parents against the teacher. 
 Acelero has a, “Learn through Play,” curriculum that they practice which is not completely explained to the parents. They don’t teach the children the things they will need to succeed in kindergarten. Instead of teaching numbers, colors, shapes etc... they teach little boys how to be maternal and change diapers on baby dolls. And from my understanding they’re still experimenting with their curriculum, there’s NO patent. This is the reason for the constant changes in scheduling, rules, stability, education etc.. they literally come with something new every single day. 
 This is a testing facility for the urban youth. These people are testing things out on our children. The CEO has done this before and when he found something that worked, he took it out of the urban community and put it in private schools in the suburbs (personal opinion through research). 
 Acelero is being run by Substitutes. The children have no set routine, no set learning schedule, no teachers, no room.... The children were being shuffled from room to room every single day when I quit. But they were still enrolling new students and opening up new facilities. They tried to force me, despite me not having the appropriate credentials, certification etc... to be a full time lead teacher. They literally went behind my back and changed my title, schedule, job responsibilities WITHOUT A RAISE and didn’t tell me until I was in violation of this new role. Then they let me know what they did and that I had been responsible for 4 children, their learning and paperwork for weeks now. Prior to them informing me of the position change, I had at least 10 conversations with leadership about me going back to the position I was hired for because I did not posses the skills or patience needed to deal with children with autism, behavioral problems and language barriers. They didn’t care. I was stressed daily. I was malnourished daily. The food that they served the children was horrendous. 
 After I had finally had enough, I quit. After I quit they kicked my kids out of the school. (They weren’t going to be there much longer anyway) I contacted a lawyer, the federal department and the state department. We will see what happens next.

At Acelero if you are not a part of the Administrative staff you are a disposable tissue. Lack of communication is scene throughout the work place. Everyone's plate is loaded with more work then what they can bare. People are stressed. Furthermore, the main attribute here is Acelero Learning getting paid, they need district funding to get paid therefore as a family advocate you push more paper then actually helping families.This company does not care about children, they only care about the district funding so the big shots can make their pockets richer. The district has no idea what goes on with the money or they would pull their funding. Acelero is a revolving door you are easily replaced. Worker moral is low, this could be a great work environment. Stress level is high. There's a deceptive aspect of the job, no informs you that you'll be working for 2 separate entities, Acelero and the Board of Education of Camden, hence you'll have twice the workload but your only compensated for one. The building needs work, carpets are dingy. You share work areas. They place 4+ people to one office. Privacy with parents is hard because you share an office with other co-workers. Higher ups constantly delegating their responsibility to others. This could be a great place, but it needs much work. Closing the achievement gap is necessary, but treating your worker well is also necessary. The average pay if your not a teach or some sort of administrator is about $14/hr even with a bachelors degree. There is also no space for growth and no raises. Only annual appraisals that range from a one time bonus of $200-$400. This place has the potential of being a good work environment, but its not.

I would not recommend employment with this company at all. You will be overworked. You will be unappreciated. You will be underpaid. You will be contacted outside of your work hours and on weekends. Leadership feels because of their position they can pry into personal situations. 

They have said repeatedly that their concern is the "double bottom line" that meaning $$$. That money does not go into supplies for classrooms but into the pockets of the people at the top. While the children are eating "cheese substitute pizza" and nothing is made fresh, only from frozen or prepackaged, management is constantly ordering from Pinera Bread, having huge events at the aquarium for staff, going to conventions in Nevada and having ez pass on personal vehicles. Field trips are a thing of the past. The children used to go on at least 2 trips a month (one was usually the public library). Unfortunately since Acelero became the grantee Once a Year has become the norm. 

It's really saying something when everyone who works there just wants a paycheck. The children are always a joy but the company is horrible. There is no job security, ask my previous supervisor who had a Master's Degree and worked for Head Start for 27 years before Acelero took over. They came long and fired her without a second thought. The turnover rate is unbelievable. If you apply for a job working there don't believe that you can make a difference with their "employee satisfaction surveys" they just want to make sure they have someone lined up to replace you if you speak ill of them. Beware of the well known statement for all that goes wrong "Welcome to Acelero"

Like most for-profit entities, this one is all about money.  It's of an average quality school for kids.  During the meetings, they openly admit they are striving to be a 3 star school and not a 5 star.  Why? because that is the standard.

The teachers aren't given a budget for buying necessities for class, and there is a big list of requirements the teachers must meet outside of federal and standard business regulations.  The assistant teachers are paid less than regular teachers, as they should, but are required to work as a regular teacher, including the paperwork.

During the ECERS-R, there are school conditions that are negatively applied to the teacher's scores.  So if there aren't enough blocks for the students, which is up to the school to buy, it's still a negative mark on that individual teacher.  Or if the playground doesn't meet the ECERS-R requirements, it's also assumed as the teacher's fault.  Acelero does little to help teachers in this way.  And when they do order something, it can literally take the entire school year before your specific building gets it.

It is not surprising that, at least in the New Brunswick, NJ school, it has an high employee turnover rate similar to retail.

If you do apply here, remember, this is a FOR PROFIT school.  So expect this kind of environment.

I am a Family Service Advocate at Acelero for 10 years already and I am very pleased and proud to work at this place.  The person that comes to work at Acelero have to have the experience and the courage to confront and manage every minute while working with the parents and the children.  Every minute at this job counts and you need to have that heart and passion to be able to accomplish this work.   While working here you have the responsibility to engage every family to advocate for their children safety/health and needs of their children and encourage them to accomplish their own goals in life.

This is a very busy and interesting place to work.  I learned a lot throughout my career and experiences at Acelero's Early Head Start.  The workplace culture is respected and we honor the parent's voice .  The hardest part of this job is that once you engage yourself with the family, you go that extra mile with them because you feel it in your heart and put yourself in their shoes when you have to advocate for them.  The most enjoyable part is about the work we do with a family.  Everybody takes part with the family to make sure we close the achievement gap and build a better future for children, families, and communities.

This company does not care about children, they only care about the district funding so the big shots can make their pockets richer. The district has no idea what goes on with the money or they would pull their funding. The children have to do without supplies unless the teachers purchase it.  Management stinks, treats everyone like a disposable tissues and their communication skills lack. The lack of professionalism is beyond words, FYI the director will tell everyone your business. Acelero is known for their revolving door, always new employees are being hired, due to the fact that no one wants to stay.  Everyone at the center is miserable.  There is no respect for the employees, they are treated like garbage.  The stress level is HIGH, because the work place environment is TOXIC! There is no motivation for their employees to want to stay.  RESEARCH...I wish someone had warned me.  The desire to be a teacher was stolen from me within the first 6 months. This place made me regret my career choice, that is how bad this place is.  The only enjoyable part of this job is the children.  I wish I could rate this work place a -100!

The kids are great, they're the most enjoyable part of this job. But, the environment and how the program is ran is stressful. This was my first job, and I learned a lot that helped me grow as a person. I've gained more courage and confidence, grew out of the scared child "fresh out of high school." The hardest part of this job, is feeling like you're part of the team. You constantly feel like you're doing either more than your job, or less, depending on what center you work at and both feelings are overwhelmingly stressful. Half the time, I'd feel like a "ghost." I just wanted to feel needed and feel like I was actually doing something. I transferred to a center that appreciated me more, and made me feel part of the team. But, that didn't change the fact that $9.08 isn't good pay for what I do, and to tolerate stressful company decisions, staying overtime just to make up for hours I don't have due to being part-time for almost a year, etc. 
I'm young and I still have time, so I'm just trying to find something better for myself and grow more as a person. Working here, was overall a good experience in personal growth. But, do I recommend this as a permanent way to make a living? No.

As Home based Visisor I was responsible for minimunm of 12 families living accross two counties....for a long time I juggled 16 families. These families were low income families with varying needs, with children ranging from infants to 5 yrs; some of these childen had special needs, i.e. behavioral, physical, or cognitive. My role was to educate parents (whose children were not enrolled in pre-school)how to provide education, health & social emotional skills to their children to ensure they were prepared for Kindergarten in the same way that their middle income peers were. I would educate the parents & children in various domains such as math, english,cognitive, social-emotional and problem solving.

As Home Based Cordinatr, I had to manage a team of 5-7 people, covering a total of 63 Home Based families. Head Start Performance standards needed to be adhered so in order to be compliant with our federal grant.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Can't really remember much possitive things exept that many good people are trapped working fora very selfish company.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Too much work, absolutely terrible pay, and expected to keep your head down, grin and bear it.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?

Professional acredditted employees are expected to provide the utmost and most professional service while being demeaned daily by people who are not qualified to lead as Directors or positions of authorithy.  Directors and positions of authority get paid less than their subordinates.  The moral among Acelero employees is very low.  People unqualified to hold titles of authority are rewarded with such titles while people who are qualified are demeaned and belittled by people who don't even hold college degrees.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Keep your head down, watch your back and do as you are told.

When working for Acelero you must remember it is a for profit company which for me was always a conflict. I could never understand how a company profits from low income disadvantage families/children. They say they want to "close the achievement gap" but I never felt that was their purpose while I worked there. I felt like they did many things to look good on paper or when it was time for a federal review. There was often a disconnect between the community they serve and the company particularly at the management level because they believe it a one size fits all without respect to the culture of the community. The amount of work they expect from you would be fine if the pay matched as well but it doesn't. It is true they pay more than your other early childhood program down the street but what Head Start program doesn't. The other issue is they have these high expectations but they didn't provide the necessary support. I think the company can provide you with experience for your resume, but it is not a company you can grow with.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Preschool teacher 3 salaries reported	$13.01 per hour
Family advocate 3 salaries reported	$21.97 per hour
Substitute teacher 1 salary reported	$14.33 per hour
Elementary school teacher 1 salary reported	$30,390 per year
Assistant teacher 3 salaries reported	$13.82 per hour

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