teacher

elementary school teacher

high school teacher

school teacher

dean

Achievement First

I work an AF middle school in Brooklyn as a ICT teacher (Learning Specialist in AF lingo). Although the scheduling is manageable, the expectations that this particular campus has are unreasonable. As an ICT teacher you are expected to create lessons from scratch, script out word for word what you will say to students (and submit it), IPP for both the lesson you create, as well as the lessons in the core block.

Pros :
- Great students who are mostly respectful and follow directions. 
- Manageable schedule
- Salary is extremely fair
- Great for beginners who don't have any teaching experience


Cons :
-Toxic Work Culture - staff are always watching everything their peers do, will speak to you as though they are superior teachers, and tons of micromanaging.
-No teacher autonomy - if you are a new teacher or enjoy teaching with scripting out all your directions, lessons, thoughts then this school is great for you, if not stay away. Some of the school leaders will not let you make calls on what/how to teach something and tell you what to teach/how to, despite students levels, understanding, or your experience with students
-Micromanagement in this particular campus happens at every level; your peers/co-teacher, your coach, principal, DSO.
-Don't value your time (personal or professional) - few members of leadership will mention that you should work weekends, vacations, evenings, and be okay with taking time away from your prep
-Inequitable - Leadership will make changes to your schedule and expect you not to question it even if you're the only one they're adding time to. ELA and Math are both subjects who will have more work (additional time added, schedules swapped so that you teach more, more responsibilities).
Hierarchy - There are several staff members that have been around for years and if you disagree with them, you're opinions are invalid
No support - Staff support in this school is mainly them telling you what to do and you following it. If you ask for support, there are many who won't help and them use that against you in meetings


Overall its a manageable schedule and a decent place to work, however many staff and leaders who teach in this location have ONLY taught at this location so the idea of teaching styles doesn't exist, neither does your opinion. The majority will treat you as though you don't know how to teach unless you do it their way. 

*Note : This may not be reflective of all AF schools, just the experience of working at a specific one.


Teachers at AF must arrive around 6:30-7.  The schedule says 7:20, but you will quickly learn the real schedule through "feedback" from your peers.  A meeting begins each day, followed by homeroom, then 7 blocks of class.  As a teacher, the rest of that time is spent in meetings, or doing work for other people.  Mandatory work for other people.  There are no subs at AF, and since they reserve the right to fire a teacher at any time for any reason, you may end up teaching someone else's class for a while, or having your class and content switched without notice.  The system is flawed at AF, something our principle said in their own way almost every day.  The focus is on "Team Before Me" which is their way of saying that you should put the needs of everyone before your own.  However, if something you do is not up to standard, despite helping everyone all day, you will be reprimanded.  Not just from the admin, but from fellow teachers who are not thankful for your help, but instead expect it at every turn.  The issue is, each day that extends beyond employment related services.  Have a doctors visit that's already been approved? You will be personally emailed about how it hurts the team.  Sick? Same thing.  Did you inject creativity or some element of inquiry into your lesson that wasn't given to you from your coach/corporate?  Prepare for someone to watch or record it so it can be used as an example of not "holding the bar".  The students are wonderful.  That I will say.  You will likely find yourself developing a "team" mindset with them, instead of fellow staff.  I left this job not because I couldn't handle all these things.  I left this job because I can't walk into one more classroom and tell them that what we have prepared for them will prepare them to move onto college or beyond.  I've watched that be fed to scholars for years, and I'm sick of seeing the look in their eyes when they think its their fault that they aren't getting into the colleges of their choice.

Pros
The salary is competitive and you will be compensated well. The students are great! The students are energetic- and love to learn. The students' families are well involved and supportive. Achievement First's system is organized. Online and paper resources are available to you.
Cons
Achievement First's system operates on a high micromanaging level. Administrators stop you in the middle of your lesson when you are teaching a class to give unnecessary feedback even when students are behaving and completing their work silently. Administration will spontaneously walk in your classroom at least 4 times a week. Administration will interrupt your lesson if they feel as if you are not doing it the way they want you to do it. If you do not follow exactly what they scripted, you will have to practice after work hours. Teachers do not have the autonomy to control their class the way they want even it proves that the teacher's teaching style is effective. Teachers are rushed to move on to the next subject or lesson although students may need to be retaught or you need to have a community circle with the class. Students are discouraged to raise their hand if they need something. Students are treated and taught one way although the school's mission states "equity."
Advice to Management
I understand that the school system has a specific way of preventing behaviors, but I suggest giving teachers the autonomy to create their own classroom culture and if they need support request practice from administration. I also suggest allowing classes have community circles to talk about real life problems that go on in school and outside of school to prevent social emotional issues. If we only focus on academics throughout the day, we may create a barrier for our students to address their own emotional needs.

Overworked & Underpaid: The workload was absolutely brutal. I was expected to teach back-to-back classes with minimal prep time, all while grading endless assignments, and doing the work of multiple people. I was constantly staying late, working weekends, and even bringing work home just to stay afloat. And all of this was for a salary that was ridiculously low given the amount of effort required.

Lack of Support: There was no support from the administration when it came to handling issues with students or workload. If you needed help, good luck. Teachers were expected to just manage everything on their own, with no assistance in managing the classroom or handling discipline issues.

Disrespectful Students: The students were unbelievably disrespectful. They routinely ignored rules, disrupted the class, and showed no regard for the subject matter or for their peers. Efforts to engage them in learning were often met with apathy, sarcasm, or outright rudeness. There was little to no accountability for their behavior, and it made teaching incredibly frustrating.

No Work-Life Balance: This job completely consumed my life. Between preparing lessons, grading assignments, attending meetings, and trying to manage a classroom, there was no time for personal life. The pressure to perform at a high level, without the necessary resources or recognition, was overwhelming.

Toxic Environment: The school culture was toxic. Staff morale was low, and many teachers were burnt out or had already left. It felt like the administration cared more about numbers and appearances than actually supporting its teachers and students. There was no appreciation for the hard work put in, and it felt like we were all just there to serve a broken system.

My experience at Achievement First was characterized by high stress and a feeling that I couldn't be myself - of course, "all in the interest of the children." Everything was prescribed - from the way I spoke to how I managed my classroom to the structure of my lessons. At the time (I don't know if this is still true), we had to give demerits for behaviors that are extremely common in high school (talking to the student next to you, checking your phone).  I still work in what would be considered an "urban school" and I find that by showing kids I care and making class mostly purposeful and meaningful, those behaviors are usually correctable with gentle reminders, and if not, with a deeper conversation. I think the reason AF doesn't allow teachers to do this is because of their business model and philosophy, which sees teachers as employees that need to be trained as efficiently as possible to achieve results. This kind of "management" would take longer to teach to teachers, if it didn't come naturally to them, so all teachers are made to be the same. The best thing I can say about it is that I learned some useful strategies that I still use.  Laslty, (oops, I guess I had more to say than I thought) it was culty. I developed new ideas while there that went against my instincts and it took me years after to deprogram them. I don't know how much AF has changed, so take this all with a grain of salt, but if you are considering working there, or if you already do, just remember to trust yourself! 

I can confidently say that my experience working for Achievement First has been the most stressful and anxiety-inducing job I have ever had. I even had to be medicated for work-induced anxiety during my time there. Work-life balance is nonexistent, and when I decided to prioritize being more active in my son's day-to-day life, the company's loyalty towards me started to waver. When I requested flexibility to accommodate my responsibilities as a parent, I was told that it "wouldn't be equitable." 

The organization fosters a toxic work environment where expectations are unreasonably high. Minor missteps are often used to remind employees to "stay in their place" whenever they challenge the status quo. Although they claim to disrupt the "status quo" for students, they engage in the same harmful practices towards their staff.

My supervisor was inconsistent and incompetent, providing excuses for every misstep and showing a lack of humility. This behavior significantly impacted my experience at the organization. When I raised my concerns, management backed each other like "brothers in arms," sweeping issues under the rug.

Unless you have a strong principal with decent people skills, I would advise you to avoid this organization.

I have a long history at working with Achievement First as I was a student as well. Teachers left because of the workload when I was a student and as a teacher I can understand why. There are a lot of meetings that could be emails. The meetings aid in teaching quality, brainstorming activities for our students and collaborating on student needs or behaviors. It's informational for beginners. They provide lesson plans but want you to write a script on the lesson plan provided. You are writing a lesson plan with your own added flair. You can move forward as a grade level chair, then a dean, but I believe that's where the ceiling stops unless you look for open positions elsewhere within the network. Students are the best part but lack of focused vision with the behavior management, social work, and teachers makes it harder for students who need "extra love and support" to have the consistency across all boards. Everyone is busy with the additional work added on us so sometimes you don't get support. If you aren't liked by higher level staff then you were left without appropriate support. 

Working at Achievement First was an extremely unpleasant experience for me. I felt as though I was thrown into a professional work experience without the proper coaching which led to me being unappreciated by both students and staff. Students didn’t respect me as an additional staff member in the classroom because most teachers didn’t either. Staff members belittled me in the presence of students which led to students not respecting me as an adult/professional. This contributed to me feeling like an easy target in regards to false allegations towards me  and often feeling like I was the blame of situations without proper communication from coworkers. I tried my absolute best working there to support my one on one and others but I didn’t feel that was reciprocated to me when students threatened me and I was sent home and it appeared as no real consequence was issued to the students. I know recent graduates haven’t always been hired, but I wanted to give back to a network that provided me with an education but I felt I was failed in the process. 

Every day is spent correcting behaviors, teaching kids how to conform to prison pipeline making them practice transitions to carpet, to their desks, how to walk in the hallway in a straight line with out talking. How to sit at the cafeteria tables for first and last five minutes with out any talking. Children hardly receive consequences and parents don’t follow through with consequences for their children. Leadership team is secretive and extremely disorganized. The principal has very little autonomy always have to refer to team “network”. Fridays are long days bc every Friday is a professional development. Parent teacher conferences are extremelyyyyy long and draining. It will start at 2:00 pm and you won’t go home until like 6:30/7:00 where you’re not even getting paid to stay later than contract hours. Not to mention every class has 30-32 kids in it. You’re assigned a co teacher..one will teach reading and writing and the other teaches stem. It was the worst school/job I have ever had! 

The hours are LONG. You must be there by 7:10 everyday. 7:11 is the cut off. After that you are late. Dismissal is over at 4:15. Typically teachers are there at least another 30 minutes to an hour after that (Maybe more, especially if you do after school). You're looking at 10 hour+ work days. I cant lie, the adult culture is great and for the most part people are VERY welcoming which is new to me. There are few who aren't as welcoming/rude but, that's life. I do feel valued though and I love that part. But a lot is expected of you. Especially due to the salaried nature you can easily work 50-60 hours a week for the same check and that can be quite draining. The work-life balance definitely needs to be worked on. The school day has several parts that can be trimmed or cut altogether for the betterment of the staff and students alike.

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