high school teacher

teacher

special education teacher

elementary school teacher

mathematics teacher

Stride, Inc.

Originally I'd looked forward to the opportunity to work from home as course placement counselor with k12---work from home, decent wage and able to set my own schedule to some extent. Actually, you will be pushed consistently to work faster, and faster and faster, so that K12's making all the $$, and you are just another cog in the wheel. Work is generally inconsistent, so you can do 5 hours one week, and suddenly the managers are overwhelmed, and send you 40 people to place, which you are expected to do at the drop of a hat. . Management style is overbearing, critical and downright rude. One is told to ask questions if you need help, but don't ask too many, and if you can't go any faster---you're fired. Yo are not expected to treat customers like human beings. Instead, go fast, get it done, and move on to the next. Ignore the fact that we are dealing with human beings with concerns, fears, and sometimes lots of questions. Often the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing within the organization and it's contact with the school we place for.  Manager says one thing; school says another. Placement counselor is blamed when inaccurate information is supplied to place students.  Tone is condescending and disrespectful when direction is given. Example: Had taken my kids to school on the first day of this school year, stopped to grab some groceries, and found this email:"Are you working today? If you don't get these 3 students called by noon, they will be removed from your list!" Please understand that we set our own hours! Management uses threats and intimidation to get things done, and mind you, we are all college graduates, mature folk, responsible and caring. Sadly, K12 is all about getting it done fast to boost their bottom line. Contract workers are expected to drop everything as soon as they have something for you to do. They have incur no cost for an office, cell phone service or internet. Although they supply the clunky, awkward HP lap top, many use their own computers just because one is used to them, and often they are quicker and far more sophisticated than the HP dinosaur. Point is, K12 gives nothing but that $18 dollars an hour, and when one factors in the unprofessional behavior of management, the push, push, push mentality to go fast and save them $$, and the attitude that when they finally give you some work your world ceases to exist---it's just not worth it.

I am a licensed teacher with approximately 15 years working in brick and mortar schools. This was my first year doing remote teaching and it may very well be my last.
The leadership of the administration here in Indiana was extremely poor. Communication was the #1 issue I would have to highlight with this school; it’s almost nonexistent.
They never gave praise and, as a teacher, I felt like I had absolute 0 voice with any decision-making opportunities. I definitely do not feel like I was treated like a professional.
Yes, technology was a big hurdle at times, especially when using the platform Canvas for the first time ever. As an adult, I struggled many times to navigate this platform but to also expect kindergarten through 3rd grade to get it? Impossible!
So many times I found the technology tools to be inappropriate for certain grade levels and to be honest, much of the curriculum was not grade level friendly.
One of the biggest frustrations about this platform is the lack of engagement with your students. Of course there are many external stimuli that may hinder a student to turn their mics or cameras on but it’s almost impossible to feel like an accomplished educator when 75% of your students refuse to actively participate in class or complete their online class work. I can talk and talk and talk until I’m blue in the face about class expectations but nothing changes unless there is active support by the adults at home which, to be honest, doesn’t happen. My joy for teaching dropped significantly this school year because of this lack of effort, not to mention the minimal “growth” to be witnessed by most of my students.
I could continue with many other complaints, but I would like to end on a positive note. The teachers who work for this company is so amazing and talented and honestly should be treated 1,000 better than what they are currently experiencing. This company almost doesn’t deserve to have quality teachers like them.

After leaving Arizona's largest online school for promises of promotions, stability, and a caring work environment, within 90 days, the truth surfaced. The "Director" is actually an elementary school student advisor who failed on a previous occasion to lead, so, rather than keep her in a non leadership role, K12 allowed her to start Insight Academy of Arizona. The school never grew, staff turnover was incredibly high, and promises of raises constantly loomed overhead but never came true. The assistant principal, if you want to call her that, is a math teacher, and the new Support Specialist is a PE teacher. It's a terrible environment when years of experience, advanced degrees, and work ethic are rewarded with demands that wouldn't be placed on you in a B&M environment. The laptops track every move you make, but the information is always incorrect, and you must adhere to a schedule dictated down to the time you're able to go to the restroom. K12 preys on stay at home mothers who want to take care of their children, but once you are on staff, you are asked to make certain your job comes first and that you hire a nanny or put your child in daycare. In addition, ideas about innovation, student centered learning dynamics, and support services aimed at helping children find success will only get you written up for being insubordinate to the current mindset. Unless the administrative team is removed from this school, there will be no more ISAZ. In 3 years, this school has not grown, and in the last semester 15 different people quit. However, no changes were made and no changes seem to be in the works. Do yourself a favor and look into any other remote education opportunity. This one will suck the love of teaching out of you and leave you looking to work anywhere but in a classroom.

This year (23-24) is especially disorganized and chaotic! Poor communication and upper management always changes their minds and contradicts themselves. They are careful NOT to put directives in writing. I wonder why? Since we started a new year in early August, nothing but bad news!! The curriculum is incredibly DULL. I spend many weekends and evenings searching for better ways to teach the TEKS and supplementing it with more interesting material because it pains ME to look at it. Administration this year is especially unpleasant and out-of-touch! It doesn't seem like they truly care about students or staff. Scheduling is a nightmare!! They couldn't give us clear directives about what days/times are available. Then we finally get answers, BUT they change their minds constantly! Then teachers have to redo, undo, and fix things. I'm sure that is confusing for students too. Everyone in my department has worked 12-hour days AND weekends over the past few weeks! We are all exhausted! When we ask WHY can't we just get the correct info the first time, supervisors say, "You're planning too far ahead. It's normal for changes to occur." Who schedules their classes the weekend BEFORE it begins on a Monday?? They consider that normal. The worst part was a meeting this week. EVERY single teacher being told, NO BONUS! This was promised to all of us because Stride just had their most successful year in quite a while! Last month, they even told us the date to expect the payment and said the amount was being decided. But yesterday they informed us only administrators, directors and managers and EVERYONE at Corporate received that bonus! It's a slap in the face and shows what their TRUE priorities are!! Teachers (and other overlooked, unappreciated staff members) don't work at Stride for a lot of money, but their dishonesty and gaslighting is really awful!! This staff AND our students deserve MUCH better!

If it were possible to give k12 less than one star, I would.  I'm not sure where to begin, so I'll just start by babbling my complaints.  Management is incompetent when it comes to leading employees.  There is a culture of "passing the buck" to the next person below you.  Advancement is impossible unless you fit a certain criteria (preference given to people for their faith, military experience, family connections, and people who are willing to throw their colleagues under the bus).  

The pay is awful.  For a multi-million dollar, international enterprise they still pay start up wages.  And, if they can find a way to avoid paying you, they will absolutely take it.  

Make no mistake about it: K12 is NOT an educational organization.  They are a business.  They have been scrutinized by the government and law enforcement agencies repeatedly, and often escape litigation through crafty business tactics.  

Leadership is all over the place.  Not sure where to start with my criticisms: the racist guy, the homophobe, the foul-mouthed woman, the bully, the business cheat.  Many of your colleagues will be so scared of getting fired (which happens constantly) that they will readily blame other folks to avoid it.  Essentially, there is no accountability.  

The only really good part of this gig was that I worked from home, so my interaction with my supervisor (a fundamentalist, religious zealot) was limited.  This did not stop her from attacking me though.  Other than this, there was no good part of working for K12.  

Be weary of positive reviews.  K12 routinely hires people to do reputation control on the internet, in addition to hiring temp workers to picket on their behalf, and funding "charitable" organizations like public school options . org to give the public the impression that they have support.  K12 is run by military strategists and politicians, and that is NOT a euphemism.

K12 IS TERRIBLE, STAY AWAY.

This review is for Texas Virtual Academy (TVAH); a K12 school.

You have to be available between 8-5 by Skype. You can download the app on your phone when you're away from your computer. You have regular recurring meetings on Fridays. Sometimes students classes conflict w/times. You may experience tech issues within your course and it may never be fixed. They expect you to make 25 phone calls each week to students/families-but families hardly answer and they will not accept emails as communication--something they need to change.

K12 hyped us up for a raise per HB3 but doesn't look like were getting much of a raise-they cap the service years at 5 from your service record & no contributions to TRS; it goes to 401K if you opt in. They won't release any info on the salary scale because it proprietary info (it is said that they increase 2% each year of service but I really don't know- this is my 1st year)--but there are other online school were you can earn more. The flexibility of working from home and not actually having to take off when you have to do something is wonderful. You do get sick & personal days.
There's a lot of tracking you have to do as a core/EOC teacher--maybe I haven't gotten my flow down yet. Turn over rate is high but there are so vets within the company and most people are very helpful! You work throughout the month of June, but you have "PTO days" specifically for the summer month off (July).

This year we started off with 1 principal and a month or so into school we had another principal (at the high school). Also they require you to go to these "Bobcat Brews" that are a waste of time in my opinion because you will not see or interact with the students you teach and these students will be from all of TVAH at various coffee shop locations across TX. Additionally, these coffee shop managers/owners really don't care to have us in their shop--but what can we do?

Overall it's a good place to work. I love working from home/remotely but the compensation can be a lot better.

When I first started working at K12, I absolutely loved the job. My supervisor was awesome, and the majority of my team was pretty great. Once upper management decided to train my group for something else was when it got bad. We had a 3 day crash course training (which is supposed to take 2+ weeks), then got placed with a new supervisor who didn't even come in until a few hours into our shift. So imagine this group of people, handling sensitive information, who are completely clueless as to what is going on, with little to no help at all. It very quickly turned horrible. I was going into work on a daily basis dreading the moment I got my first call because I knew I wasn't be trained well enough to be able to help. On top of that, you're expected to take those calls, follow up with that family every 3 days until they're enrolled, plus follow up with the other families you have been talking to. The work piles up quickly and it soon gets to the point where you can't breathe. And if you can't keep up with your books they get very upset with you. They also offer no time off for the first 3 months no matter what your situation is. The point system they use to keep track of your missed time is a joke. They have levels for the points to correspond with how much time you missed (even if you miss ONE MINUTE they punish you). In order to work off one full point (which ranges from you missing anywhere from 2 hours to a full day) you have to work 16 hours of overtime. Oh, and if for any reason you miss the overtime you signed up for, you then have to work off another point. 
On top of that, you get absolutely no say in your schedule. If you can't work what they say you're working then oh well, sucks for you. It's their way or the highway.
Overall, they just didn't seem to care too much for the people. From the outside looking in, it wasn't too bad, but once you are in it turns out terrible.

I just wanna say that my trainers and supervisors were super kind and understanding. I had 0 issues with them. Here’s what I have an issue with, first off the training is so short I don’t think anybody in my class was prepared to be thrown in production. The training is two weeks but about 2-3 days are for shadowing and the last day of training was when we got told that we are in production. The training is way too fast and even now that I’m a month in I still don’t feel like I know where everything is, I constantly ask for help in our group chat so do a lot of my peers. 
Next thing I have an issue with is that I got selected to move into the Chat team and I was told I wouldn’t have to do phone calls anymore but that was a lie, they said all chat people have to take phone calls twice a month and whenever they feel like phones are busier. So I have to do both departments and it gets very stressful because each department does things differently so it’s a struggle to remember every single thing they want us to do. 
And last but not least I feel like the pay is way too low for all the stuff they want us to do. It’s basically minimum wage ($15-16) 
They want you to help the customer but you gotta put a specific template for each issue and then fill it out while on the phone or chat, which is tough because you have to look at the account , find the issue, look up the guidelines, notate the account, while still talking to the parents. On chats I have to talk to 3 people at a time so I have to do all that all at the same time. It gets very stressful. I’ve had other call center work from home jobs and this is probably one of the worst ones I’ve done. I really recommend that they break up the enrollment agents into multiple departments because it would really lighten the load a bit and make our lives a bit easier. 

The company is flawed from the bottom up and ultimately do not care about the children and education they are ultimately getting, K12 is more interested in gaining a dollar. 

In the Private Schools Enrollment side, the training is so scare and so poorly organized and delivered that by the time you are talking to a live person there is at least 90% of the job still to learn. But not to worry, there's NO ONE to help you. They say you'll get help, but you never do. 

From the second you start taking live calls they start monitoring you for QA and hold you to the same standard as the tenured employees and it is just unfair that a lack of training can result in you failing your QA score and therefore losing your job just because you didn't say a couple words out of a 5 page script (not an exaggeration). 

But not only that, think of this job more like a high-call-level, sink-or-swim, ALL SALES, like, MUST HAVE SALES EXPERIENCE because that's all they care about at K12 is the almighty dollar and not the children in this country's education!!  

There is too much praise for management given for each other all the time, and in our training class alone there was an 80% turnover within the first month... there's definitely something wrong with this company but they don't think so because they are rolling in the dough right now with all the COVID nonsense.

WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE TO ANYONE--- even if they were desperate for a job!!! 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Virtual teaching and learning is a viable and important service delivery model.  I felt I could be creative in the classroom and was encouraged to grow.  Lastly, teaching for Stride K12  allowed my students and myself to enjoy fewer distractions than we had in the face to face classroom.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
There continues to be more racial and gender  discrimination in hiring and in recognizing achievements of employees compared to the brick and mortar settings.  The work duties are varied, too many and cumbersome - there are some manual duties that should be done by technology.  The work day is long and the school schedule not very flexible to the needs of families, students and staff. Pay is okay though.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Depending on your cohort the culture and work environment is fine.  I was blessed to work with experienced colleagues who supported one another and made the work day palatable. Younger colleagues tend to have less teaching experience but more arrogance.  They contributed to a negative culture and environment.  Also, there seems to be a growing anti-Christian values mindset festering in this and all public schools.   Not a good, healthy way to go for the sake of students or staffers.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Too much work that has to be done manually.  Too many meetings.  Too much work that should not be required of  a virtual school ie collecting and storing information on back to school physicals of students!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
High school teacher 22 salaries reported	$46,902 per year
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Elementary school teacher 9 salaries reported	$48,389 per year
Mathematics teacher 4 salaries reported	$47,375 per year

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