teacher

assistant principal

elementary school teacher

special education teacher

high school teacher

KIPP Texas Public Schools

KIPP is one of those places that you either love or hate, and even when you love it you still hate it. You’re often asked to do tasks/complete work that is unrelated to your title, and this isn’t a once in a while thing it’s every day. There is very little work-life balance when you’re a teacher at KIPP, you will work 10 hours a day and somehow still have work to do at home or after hours. Students have serious behavioral issues and you spend a lot of time is spent managing behavior when you should be teaching. There are not enough counselors or behavioral interventionists at each school, and don’t expect admin to come help you. Schools vary greatly in their academic achievement and work environment, one school may be awesome and another may be a nightmare. And if you school is awesome, they will likely move your principal to a different school and yours will become a nightmare. You get little to no breaks and often have breaks taken away to cover other employees duties, you will be lucky to get a 30 minute break during your 10 hour shift. Summer break is very short compared to other districts and school days are very long. The pay appears good at first glance, but if you do the math on the hours you truly work, it’s not enough for what you’re being asked to do. It’s easy to feel “trapped” because of the “decent” pay. They like to hire people who have never taught elsewhere because they can be easily trained to be the perfect complacent KIPP employee. They value you as long as you are agreeable and don’t speak out when you feel something they are doing is wrong. KIPP promotes equity for students, but don’t expect that to apply to employees. Many of the school leaders are unprofessional and under-qualified. Principals are supposed to lead by example, but many at KIPP don’t. I’ve had one amazing principal who made the school an amazing place to work or learn but unfortunately once that principal moved schools, my school turned in to a difficult place to work or learn. That’s not a baseless claim, student performance scores dropped and teacher satisfaction percentages steeply declined. You’re “encouraged” to advocate for yourself and your students, but you’ll be penalized if you do. They are hypocrites who will pretend to care about you until you disagree with something they say or so, even if you are respectful in your disagreement. You might have some really amazing co-workers, but that likely won’t make this job worth it. It’s exhausting and thankless, no matter how many emails the CEO sends saying “thank you everyone for your hard work” you’ll never actually feel appreciated or cared for. Anyone who leaves a good review simply has not been at KIPP long enough. 

First off, for early career teachers or those in high need fields such as high school math or sped, the pay is better than nearly all the districts in the area. The benefits such as insurance are good and pretty affordable. The high school where I work is at least on the surface understanding about a once in a while absence. They do things such as lunches or breakfasts for teachers pretty regularly.


All that sounds nice, but wow, the bad is very bad. The school day is way too long. There is a home room in the middle of the day where kids just act out and play on their phones. There is no valid reason for a school day this long. The Kipp of the old days that was very disciplined and focused on turning out responsible citizens is gone. Kids are not held to any standards and teaching is little more than classroom management, which is extraordinarily difficult with 30 students, and leadership says that there aren’t really consequences except “restoration.” Students who jump fences, curse at teachers, vape in the bathroom and arrive to class 15 minutes late (many times all of the above) are “talked to” and sent right back to class to do it all over again. 

Management is very, very cliquish. There is a culture of toxic positivity:  smile and go along with everything and don’t complain or bring up valid points or you’re a troublemaker. If you’re not “popular” be prepared to receive poor performance reviews and just feel left out. By the way, you’ll be observed and meet with your manager constantly so that’s mostly just stressful and pointless. The more well-liked you are, of course, the less you’re under the thumb. The management at my school is woefully under qualified to be in management positions. People shouldn’t walk into being school leaders without previous supervisory experience, or many years of teaching, or else this disaster happens. There is a reason people leave during orientation, the first week of work, Winter break, and many times don’t renew after their first year. While the work is hard, the culture of “let’s be happy” while your coworkers and management are actively being low key snarky to you is just too much to deal with. Remember that people don’t leave jobs, they leave management.




I love working at KIPP. I just wish they paid more! I could go somewhere else (outside of a school setting) and make double what I make here, but there are so many other factors that make me want to stay. 

Management is awesome. If my kids are sick or I have an appointment or whatever the case may be, there's no guilt-trip or disapproval. I get enthusiastic well-wishes and assurances that they'll cover for me until I get back, which makes me *want* to hurry and go back. 

Benefits are unbelievably good. They just rolled out a new range of benefit options and I chose the FREE HEALTHCARE option. It's a $3,000 annual deductible, but I switched to that one because I hardly ever need to go to the doctor outside of routine checkups anyway. I previously had the plan that cost about $78 a month but had a $0 annual deductible. The coverage is OUTSTANDING, the co-pays are low or nonexistent, they offer dental coverage for something like $12 a month, vision coverage for around $7 a month, $100k in life insurance costs like $8, LifeLock, AD&D, LTD, STD, Legal Coverage, they have EVERYTHING. A whole family medical plan is literally $60 a month with actual good coverage. 

They offer tons of employee discounts on everything from hotels and rental cars to symphony tickets and Disney On Ice. They partner with a company that will actively help you reduce your student loans. They periodically offer free CPR training. There are so many benefits that they literally send out an email every Friday highlighting one or two different ones because if they listed them all it would be overwhelming. 

When our area got hit by a hurricane last year, the campuses were shut down for a couple of weeks, but KIPP made sure all its hourly employees got paid for the time that we WOULD have worked if the storm hadn't come. Employees who got hit hard (flooded houses or cars, etc) literally got checks and gift cards from KIPP to help recover. 

The organization really promotes and exemplifies the concepts of teamwork and selflessness. If I can just move into a position that pays a little better, I'll gladly stay with this company for the rest of my career.

I've found that there is not much middle ground in whether employees love or hate KIPP. Employee satisfaction tends to rely heavily on each schools administration. In my time at KIPP I have both loved and hated my job, and the shift from love to hate happened following a change in Principal and Admin. Some schools have a wonderful principal and admin team which allows for a positive school culture and overall experience. However some schools have a far from awesome principal and admin team, and this makes working there almost unbearable some days. KIPP pays well, but that seems to be their method of luring you in and trapping you. They call teachers "10-month employees", but don't be fooled you will work 11 months out of the year and have a very short summer break. Contract hours used to be 7am-5pm and were recently shortened to 7am-4pm, but if you ask me that's still too long of hours given the exhausting nature of the job. There is no wiggle room in the contract hours, it's not like other schools where you arrive 15 minutes before students and leave 15 minutes after students. Behavioral issues with students can be severe and it is rare that admin comes to help you with anything, so you are left to manage children physically fighting or throwing chairs on your own while also trying to teach the rest of the class. Before starting at KIPP I was told by a veteran teacher "if you can work at KIPP, you can work anywhere" and that sentiment seems to run true. If you can survive being a teacher here, I believe you could survive teaching just about anywhere. Is it the worst job in the world? No. Is it one of the best jobs in the world? Also no. 

As a Teaching Fellow, you will definitely learn a lot. I was at KIPP Beacon so my experience might be different from other KIPP schools. 
With that being said, there are really no clear expectations with your role and you are not really going to learn much unless you are actually put into a lead teacher role. I was lucky enough to be able to cover for a teacher who was on maternity leave. However, much of the year you are put into different classes as an "assistant" or substitute for when another teacher was out for coverage. So, don't expect that you will actually lead a class. 

I would also add that communication among management was absolutely terrible, and there is definitely favoritism/unfair treatment among management and some of the lead grade level teachers. I had up to 3 managers during my time who supposedly were there to "manage" but really were of no help. They offer "support" but don't show it at all or offer any advice/help and expect you to magically ask for support or help. It's like a word they throw around to act like they care. There were also times where I felt subordinated and felt like I didn't belong. Oh, and the "professional development" sessions are a total waste of time. Lastly, the compensation for the amount of hours that you work is truly poor and not worth it. 

With that being said, the students were absolutely great though! I enjoyed them!! 

This school consists of so many people who love to work with and for kids, are passionate about the community narrative, and have an understanding of what success for the community and our students looks like. 

Hours are long. Education is a "thankless" industry, where you will not always hear "thank you" for the work that you do, however, there are spaces and ways to still facilitate this aspect of team culture, that've yet to be utilized within the context of this particular school.

The school looks and feels amazing, and one can tell that it's grounded in love and asset based thinking, when it comes to students and their potential.

I wonder how the adult experience in the building will be impacted if the leadership team considered the needs of their staff more, by simply asking and showing an invested interest in the humanity of the staff, versus assuming what will satisfy the unidentified needs. Also wondering what leveling out the playing field for staff, and creating an inclusive culture of campus leadership (School Leaders and Teacher Leaders) will do for the overall experience of said staff.

Most KIPP teachers work one to three hours outside of the regular 10 hour school day and also work a good few hours on weekends for pay that doesn't compete with the neighboring districts. Though KIPP promises students college it fails to meet the needs of work/life balance and preventing high turnover, thus not meeting its promise to the students. Overall the belief of the KIPP does not carry the strength and promise it once did as KIPP focuses more on expanding rather than developing and keeping its talented, dedicated and extremely hard working staff. This happens due to extremely high stress, lack of support and an administration that isn't providing support or resources it needs because the focus is on everyday interactions and data. In turn without stability at some campuses the students also aren't succeeding in their academics, developing the noble character and discipline they need, nor maintaining the high expectations the school has set for them to prosper and make it to and through college. Some schools in Houston are successful models while others are highly unsuccessful and are no better than the neighborhood schools and are in fear of failing not only their communities but also their students both short and long term.

Teachers who work for KIPP enter the company solidly believing they are joining an organization committed to helping low-income students succeed to and through college. Sadly, most teachers have been duped by KIPP's public relations schemes. Beneath the shiny brochures and riveting language about working hard and being nice is a company that seeks business growth and positive press before doing what's best for students or teachers. Teachers regularly work 55 or more hours a week and are expected to attend evening meetings sometimes lasting until 6 p.m. Schools are often headed by a revolving door of administrators with anywhere from 3-10 years of education experience. Classrooms are mostly filled with inexperienced Teach for American recruits or bright but naive young educators with little teaching background. A teacher, for instance, who has three or more years with KIPP is considered a "veteran." This is largely due to the huge emphasis on test scores that teachers are subjected to as well as tons of unpaid working hours. Teachers are smart and creative, but hugely lack systemic support in every way. Student discipline issues are unresolved or treated lightly no matter how egregious the circumstances. Teachers' voices are not respected. Not a place to work if you value your talents.

KIPP Houston Public Schools is overall a good/decent place to work if you are in line with the company's overall mission---prepare students for success in college.  But with this ultimate mission, they have been known to work their teachers to death; ultimately, leaving their teachers without a work/life balance! They have a great company culture!---This is what I like the most since I have subbed at KIPP Houston schools.  However, not all KIPP Houston schools  are one and the same.  They are each run very differently and come with their own set of students (in terms of how they behave).  Majority of KIPP Houston schools are largely hispanic!

As a Substitute Teacher, the pace of work was steady at most Schools, except of course, when you have one or more off-duty class periods.  At some particular schools, they worked you really hard--even as a Substitute Teacher.  Whether that meant always covering for any/every teacher that needed coverage (because it was always needed at any given time or they simply didn't have enough subs for the day) or prepping materials for the upcoming STAAR test.  After all, KIPP's motto is: "Work hard. Be nice."  So they're letting you know that you will be worked really hard.

Worked for a KIPP School for roughly 8 months. Got along great with co-workers.  Management seems to truely care.  At least I thought so.  In the end when I admitted to the school leader that I had severe anxiety(developed this in 2020 or at least diagnosed) and was taking medication for it.  They decided to place me in the behavioral unit with the 2 worst behavioral students I had ever seen.  I voiced my concerns, said I wasn't ok with it.  Didn't matter to them.  Finally I had enough as my anxiety was through the roof.  I resigned.  They made no effort to talk to me, offer other options like others would.  A fellow co-worker (retired marine) even sent the school leader an email voicing his opinions on how the situation was handled.  It seems he now understands their whole "team and family" thing only pertains to those within the "inside group".  He and others felt the same way.  They were upset on how They treated me as "team and family".  
I was happy up to that point.  It's a fraternity, Plain and simple.  If you're different or a free-thinker, you won't have job security.  Myself and others felt they set me up for failure on purpose.  I never cared about fitting in with the crowd.  I just got along with everyone (or so it seemed).

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Teacher 20 salaries reported	$59,168 per year
Assistant principal 14 salaries reported	$67,929 per year
Elementary school teacher 6 salaries reported	$59,161 per year
Special education teacher 1 salary reported	$60,000 per year
High school teacher 18 salaries reported	$58,950 per year

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