teaching assistant

grader

assistant

tutor

health center assistant

Kumon

TLDR; If you're good with kids or look forward to a field with them, this is a good experience. Otherwise, hectic, inflexible (has to operate around 'after school hours', and COVID-19 time slots make it worse), and not being open on weekends makes it inflexible for others with second jobs and school.

Management/Roles: Do your research and possibly work at a well-established center. I'm convinced half of why things felt so hectic and uncompromisable is because the center is new, and so management is finding its footing (otherwise: inexperienced). As a grader I felt underpaid; this is because there are more subjects/students than staff, and I was expected to help with the kids in a sort of hybrid grader-tutor role since the manager had not reached their financial goal to just hire people appropriately for the separate roles. Not ideal for someone like myself who doesn't qualify as a tutor or care to fulfill that role. Not their fault or the employee who recommended me to it, but I was definitely 'sold' the job under the title of a grader with those responsibilities. 

Management/Environment: The management was so new with the business aspect, early on, I had to guide them with advice from my second job, as to how our breaks were structured there. They seemed surprised when I first told them our 30min lunch was unpaid. Duh?? The HR position was held by the eldest offspring of management, so this particular center was very much a family-business style environment so if that is not your cup of tea (not mine) ask QUESTIONS about the center. 

Employee Handbooks: Allegedly the company does not have a template for new business owners opening up new centers. I was told my boss and HR had to compile a document themselves, using resources from the app we used for clocking in and out of work. In the handbook there was a section about 'being prepared to pick up tasks under short notice when other positions are lacking', and then the handbook failed to outline specific job roles/positions to inform just *what* we would need to do. Job descriptions were written on index cards and expected to stay at stations as an amendment to this lack of documentation. The center was so new the employee hand-book was handed out almost a year into the center's opening, and this developed with later dress code conflictions that did not bother to be addressed early on, only until the creation/hand-out of the handbook. 

Conclusions: With the unreliability of COVID, and parents concerned about their kid's education, this job is relatively reliable in that department. It's a luxury-necessity for those who can afford it, so the families will come. Centers will go virtual if necessary.

In addition: I was thinking about putting in my two weeks (but wrestled with it knowing the center was understaffed and considering COVID uncertainties), and my manager literally 'beat me to it' with zero notice, by claiming they 'felt it' and despite my work was appreciated it they 'felt' it was time I 'move on'. 

My opinion: Very unprofessional way to let go of an at-will-employee and definitely would not recommend the particular center I worked for and would actively advocate against it if asked. In hindsight, signs of favoritism, let home-problems bleed into the work environment (verbally and physically), double standards, and lack of competency in management; that last part I blame on Kumon not thoroughly preparing the people in charge of their centers before opening to the public. 

I've worked at a Kumon center for a couple years. First, the bad:
1) Manager micromanaged and gave orders so often that it slowed down the entire work flow. All decisions that had to be okay-ed by the instructor, which led to significant wait times when you have 15-20 or more kids/families plus staff waiting for something to go through. Manager would often forget about a kid or parent until reminded that they were waiting. I've often had to apologize to parents because the manager forgot about them or they were waiting a long time. This was the hardest part of the job, dealing with this type of management. Not only did they micromanage, they wouldn't do simple tasks themselves, like getting worksheets or stapling something or getting a pencil, instead interrupting someone else who is busy grading or helping a student or otherwise occupied with a task to do it. 
2) Sometimes when asked about a student's progress the manager would say "I don't know" and I or another assistant would end up having to do the work looking up a student and deciding what to do about their work. When we do find out what the issue is and inform the manager, the manager make us do the changes to the student's record book anyway.
3) The way the manager talks to people. There are times when they would sarcastically say "Terrible job!" to a student who did really well on a test, or to a staff member, and obviously that isn't always received well. The instructor would often make kids cry because of this aggressive behavior, not just when saying "terrible job" but also just in general. They really just don't know how to say things nicely or explain things calmly, instead shaming the child for not understanding a concept by saying things like "Why don't you know how to do this, you should know how to do this, you've done this before" and then getting upset when the child still doesn't understand and telling the child to try it again, without even helping them. Or when a child cries, sometimes they will say one of these: "Crying doesn't help anything." "Is there any reason to cry?" "There's no reason to cry." "I hate crying." "Please stop crying." As if that's going to calm them down. 
4) When asked about health insurance, the manager told me to wait until I was 26 and did not inform me about anything in advance even though I asked about it. 
5) The manager did not acknowledge a coworker's preferred pronoun, even though they were made aware of the fact and multiple attempts at correcting the instructor. 

The good:
1) The kids. There's always going to be some kids that are more difficult, but hey, sometimes you have to work with people you don't like. And we were always allowed to get the parent if a kid was being uncooperative.
2) The staff. Everyone's generally pretty friendly and nice to work with.

This is a good first job for high schoolers who need something to do for a little extra cash after school. But there isn't any career growth at the Kumon center, most people are graders for the majority of however long they work there. Sometimes you'll be trained how to do something, but then never be assigned to do that thing, so you don't get any experience doing something other than grading. Turnover rate is high for employees, because most of them are high school students and move on after their senior year.


I've worked at Kumon for almost 5 years and i feel as if I have been there too long. This position certainly rewards you with a valuable skill that enables you to develop children and young adults into self-sufficient learners that go on to become successful students at school and beyond. 

That's where the glamour of the job stops.

Endless grading with impatient and sometimes very rude parents who don't know why their son/daughter is behind on their work because they don't pay attention to their kid. The students come in three different varieties: lazy, motivated, and "my mom makes me go here". Every day is the same thing, you help students, grade work, talk with parents, and repeat. Our bosses (plural because it's a family business), often make remarks on how a parent notices things wrong with the center and its workers while at the same time, leave very little feedback as what we're doing that's positive. There are often days where we are watched by official kumon representatives, suits who take note on how the center handles itself. There is a strict emphasis on minimal interaction with the student, but i've always felt that there's absolutely very little chance that a student will just pick up on some of the poor examples they offer in the students' packets. Which brings me to my next gripe: the worksheets.

The worksheets for levels G - O are terrible. The examples that are given at the beginning of every few pages are supposed to provide insight on what's coming. They do....and yet they don't. They show a few steps, a few operations, maybe a trigonometric identity conversion here and there, but they don't actually show the student what is going on. I've had countless students come up to me asking me what the example is trying to get them to understand but there are times when even i'm confused as to what the worksheets are trying to show, if anything at all. I do my best to fill those gaps but doing so requires time and that means grading is affected and that's not good for the center as a whole. 

There are few diamonds in the rough. Students that are there to learn and like to be challenged. One of the first students to complete level O (calculus and differential equations) at that center, was my first student. It was a very rewarding feeling to have made an impact on that student's subsequent academic success upon hearing that this student had gone on to be accepted at a prestigious university out of state. 

I wish i could like this job more. But with the center only being open 3 days a week, that only further limits my ability to help the students that need it most.

Working here can be stressful at times. Some shifts I would have it easy; just helping kids and organizing and stocking stuff here there, while other shifts would be completely different depending on the day. Things like how many kids show up, whether a kid did something major to mess something up, whether a coworker or you made a mistake. All of those things change the atmosphere of the place. My boss was extremely strict. There was clear favoritism. One of the girls always brought Starbucks with her. One other day, however, when a friend of mine brought an enclosed cup with juice in it, she got yelled at and told not to do it again. Some coworkers honestly don't want to be there which is a HUGE disadvantage to the people that are trying to do the work. Prepping and planning the folders is a group effort and when certain people lack, everything falls behind. I and a coworker of mine once even brought this up to our boss. We told her that there were certain people that weren't helping. She did nothing about this. Also, depending on the role you get, you might have a more stressful time than the other employees. I was in charge of many things at once, while some of the others had way less tasks than me and had everything easier.  When COVID hit, everything went online. This was fine but I was suddenly asked to go to the center multiple times a month to pick work up. I would waste time and gas to go to the center for 10 minutes to pick up homework that parents had dropped off and distribute it to my peers. Didn't get paid for doing this. Overall, good job if you're in high school and want some extra money to go shopping and buy your parents birthday gifts. It is very stressful though. 

i always dreaded going to work, time went by super slow and i always felt terrible for the kids who were there longer than i was. I trained to be an EL Teacher in hopes of escaping the position of classroom homework grader because of how boring and repetitive it was. Being an EL Teacher was significantly better since i worked directly with children pre-k to 1st grade, i really enjoyed teaching them and finding new ways to encourage them and help them love learning. The problem seemed to be that my manager disagreed with how much fun i was allowed to let the children have with their work. i felt like i was really making a difference in the way children's attitudes began to change when they came in the next time, i could tell i was becoming some of my kid's favorites solely because i made learning more worthwhile, but I was given warnings of being put back as classwork grader if i made a child laugh or played short games of tictactoe after they finished their work (btw it was very effective in encouraging them to finish their work more efficiently and quickly). I just disagreed with their ideas of how a child learns, they believed children work best silently with teachers watching over their backs, from what i saw they treated every child essentially the same in terms of assisting them in the workload. i believed that learning didn't have to be such a boring dreadful task and i didn't know why it was such a crime to make learning more enjoyable for little children. My beliefs just didn't align with Kumon and how they taught their kids, i clearly wouldn't be able to change the way they think, so i left.

To preface: Kumon is a franchise-based company, so each center will have a different owner and different policies. My center, Kumon of Springfield-Huntsman, is more "casual" than some other centers I've toured: we're fairly lax about dress-code, provided clothing is free of offensive/graphic imagery or words; we talk to our students in-depth and permit short, quiet conversations as long as students can remain focused; we include our students in their goal-setting and lesson planning; and we ensure all of our staff feel free to ask questions and make mistakes (if the kids have to make mistakes to learn, so do our Assistants!). A typical day will also vary from center to center, but our Assistants primarily grade, answer student questions, provide explanations and examples for both math and reading work, file student folders, run tests, and briefly clean up their section before they leave.

I started working at my center as the Assistant Director, and in my almost 4 years of working there I have learned an incredible amount from both my coworkers and students (clear communication, patience, humility, etc.). I may be biased, but I would also say our management is very easy to work with and open to feedback and staff input.

The hardest part of the job is probably keeping up with grading, depending on the volume of students at your center and how fast staff can grade. The most enjoyable part for me is definitely seeing my students make progress and the confidence they gain during their time in the program!

Working at Kumon has taught me many valuable assets one needs in order to be their best. Kumon was essentially one of my first jobs and I am very grateful I chose Kumon to guide me in my career path. The Kumon I worked at, for nearly 5 years, was overall a joy to be a part of. I transitioned from a grader, to an 'early-learner' teacher, to working the front desk. Kumon allowed me to advance into different positions pretty quickly and each position showed me different qualities that I utilize to this day even after working at Kumon. I am now a registered nurse and Kumon allowed me to have the flexibility of going to school to achieve my dreams all the while loving every bit of it. Sure there were some days when it was mad crazy or we were short staffed, but thats any job you go to. You work with it, you will deal with it, you make the most of it. My manager/boss is still to this day a dear friend of mine. I wish I could have made a little 'career' out of Kumon and always thought of that if my dreams never came true. But to say the least, Kumon was a great way for me to gain experience in the employment world. I got to brighten students days and got to help them when I can. I would communicate with parents, set up appointments, enter in grades, create lesson plans, formulate homework assignments for the following week, and even eat some donuts on Saturday mornings lol. No matter what I did at Kumon, I always felt appreciated and wanted there. If you are looking for a part time job, Kumon is the way to go. Its fun, its definitely fast-paced but rewarding, and its pretty flexible as well. Thank you Kumon for nearly 5 years of employment!

The three main jobs at Kumon are check-in, tutoring, grading, and assessment. A worker checks in the student and gives them the appropriate folders to work with. The student then sits down and does their assigned classwork with three tutors watching the students complete their work and answer questions. Upon completion of the work, the students turn in the work to the graders and correct any mistakes if needed. Once the classwork has been graded and corrected, the students go to an oral assessment table, where a tutor will ask them questions and the student has to answer them allow. Each student should take about 30 minutes to complete the process. 

What I have learned thus far, and is certainty the hardest part of the job is to be a fast and efficient worker. As a grader, I have to be fast at grading their assignments because the graders are often where students bottleneck and wait for the work to be graded. In order to keep the flow of the work area, graders have to be quick about their jobs. 

The most enjoyable part of the job, but also challenging, is being the tutor for the kids while they are doing the classwork. This is the time where I get to engage the students and really help them. The challege can often be the students being unmotivated, talktive, and lack focus while they do their job, therefore I have make sure they do stay on task, but at the same time, when they are happy that they were able to get the correct answer then that is that most enjoyable for both me and the students.

Typical day at work includes: 
- Assigning math and reading work catered to the needs of individual students. 
- Preparation of classwork materials inside students' folders. 
- Ensuring all students' needs are met during class hours, walking the floor and adjusting work assignment to reflect current homework progress (incomplete, too easy, too hard, emphasis on a specific topic)
- Delegating and balancing out work distribution to other teaching assistants
- Communicating with parents (interviewing students to enroll them in Kumon, progress reports, alleviating concerns, adjustments to work reflecting parent's wishes)

What I learned:
- Good relationships with co-workers foster an easy going work environment 
- Students respond well to positive reinforcement, but are individually motivated by different factors -- connecting with them is important to inspire them to work hard

Management: 
- Very organized 

Co-workers:
- Often like-minded individuals with a passion for teaching and good temperament with students
- Many high school and university level Teaching Assistants

Hardest part of the job: 
- Convincing (some) parents that students progress at an individual pace and individualized needs, and should not be rigorously compared to other students when assigning and adjusting work

Most enjoyable part of the job:
- Seeing the progress of individual students
- The look of understanding when they first learn a new concept, overcome a hard concept, gain confidence in finally mastering a concept
- Thank yous from parents

I was thrown to the sharks when I was still fairly new to the position. We were under staffed, and I was the only employee in my department. The owner and manger promised to help me with anything I needed.. They also promised me that they would fulfill any suggestions I had. It was also promised to me, that if I needed additional help in my department, they would immediately send another employee to aid me. It was difficult to manage every student in my department alone, especially when some would be very defiant. After all, I was still new and still learning myself. When I reached out to other employees for help, they were too busy in their own department so I was left to manage the students alone. I expressed to the management my concerns. I suggested possible solutions, and was immediately rejected. Their attitude and demeanor was not as kind and as helpful as before. They basically told me to, "Deal with it." My thing is, if I don't have the proper tools I need to tutor, ultimately it is the students that suffer. Had they put me in a better position, I would be capable of providing better education to the students. Helping me would be helping the student. The pay is very VERY low for what is expected of you. The pay check is definitely too low to survive off of. This job is not for adults who have morgage, bills, or any financial obligations. I felt underappreciated, not to mention I was scolded by management as if I were a child or one of their students. I enjoyed working with the students, and I will continue to pursue a career in this industry. This company just didn't work for me.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Teaching assistant 20 salaries reported	$11.89 per hour
Grader 21 salaries reported	$12.17 per hour
Assistant 21 salaries reported	$11.11 per hour
Tutor 16 salaries reported	$12.59 per hour
Health center assistant 4 salaries reported	$12.04 per hour

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