teacher

elementary school teacher

teacher's aide

special education teacher

spanish teacher

Uplift Education

Before starting working at Uplift, I truly wanted to become a teacher. I learned more about the day-to-day issues that educators face in schools, and the large amount of work that school faculty and staff must perform to ensure students have an enriched and complete education. However, Uplift doesn't meet these expectations or deliver on their overall mission statement. Uplift has a terrible workplace culture, and there's very little work/life balance (or benefits) if you choose to accept long term positions or are hired to become a full time teacher. Unsurprisingly, there's a high turnover rate, and I saw many passionate and dedicated teachers quit after just a year, because of how things are structured at most of the campuses. The pay for a substitute was a little more than if you were to work for a public school system and you are required to accept at least two assignments each week. At the time of my employment, they technically offered healthcare if you work over a certain number of hours, but it's at a high cost and not quality healthcare. Additionally, the overall feeling that I had while working at Uplift, is that they are NOT welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community. There doesn't seem to be enough diversity and inclusion training in the workplace as I witnessed several instances of hate speech casually being used among teachers.



What is the best part of working at the company?
Good teachers who give their best

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Aggressive general education, kids. In most of their schools, special education, kids have better behavior than the general population kids. Be ready for a fight every day physical fights between the kids be ready for students pushing teachers in the chest, students, and unwilling to do work, parents, yes parents that come to the school and fight with other parents. Parents they don’t except the fact that their kids have bad behaviors that need to be dealt. If a teacher reports the bad behavior of a child be ready for the parent to blame the teacher for something anything to take the child’s behavior off the table. Administrators who don’t have the children accountable and will be frustrated with a teacher who doesn’t jump in a fight .. as if teachers need to come to the school every day prepared to jump in the middle of a fight. It gets old after a while.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Not enough classrooms too many students some days lesson plans are never talk because the kids are not willing to let a lesson go Forward  they interrupt the teacher and cause problems so that the lesson cannot be taught that is the culture.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Stressful…horrible do not work here…run away.

I've taught high school social studies for a year at an Uplift campus in a low-income area.  Most of the teachers and staff here are good people who are trying their best.  I just can't shake the feeling that we are wasting most of our students' time.  The majority of students are unwilling and/or unable to keep up with Uplift's college preparatory curriculum.  Struggling students are routinely pushed on to the next grade.  Many students regularly express that they have no interest in attending college, yet Uplift offers little in the way of vocational training.  Instead, these likely future construction workers, auto mechanics, and home health aides are forced to read dense texts and write extensive research papers aligned with the International Baccalaureate curriculum.  Unsurprisingly, student misbehavior is common. 

There is also an annoying culture of micromanagement here, wherein teachers must submit all of their lessons far in advance so they can be critiqued by an administrator.  Expect hour-long weekly meetings with an administrator in which you are asked to defend everything you do in class.  Maybe this is normal, but I came from a charter school network in which I had a lot more autonomy, so I found this frustrating.  

Some Uplift schools have a better idea of what's going on, but unfortunately, others are run by very young people with little experience. The principal made teachers submit lesson plans FOR THE ENTIRE SCHOOL YEAR in July. Many teachers were teaching with no curriculum and ending up on probation because they weren't cutting it, when in reality, they weren't provided with what they needed to do the job. They expect you to pull a rabbit out of a hat. Just talk to people who have been in education and they will tell you the fundamentals that should be covered by your principal first and foremost, and then by your department chair. Uplift, unfortunately, in my experience was just a lot of good-sounding marketing but was an absolute mess on the inside. Teaching is already stressful enough; you don't want to work here. Charter schools have the high turnover they have for a reason. At my new job, I even met a teacher who said she took a $10k pay CUT to get out of Uplift.  There were incompetent people getting promoted for doing nothing. There seems to be an attraction to prestigious schools even if in practice that means nothing.

This by far was one of the worst years of my career.  The micromanagement is extreme and completely unnecessary. It comes under the guise of "coaching" but it's nothing more than finding something wrong with everything you do. The "Dean" at my location was extremely challenging to work with. Uplift puts people into management who are completely unqualified and have very little classroom teaching experience. That's why they aren't called principals, they don't meet even the minimum qualifications. The environment is very ghetto at that particular location. The staff uses language that does nothing to help the students learn appropriate communication skills needed to succeed in the working world. The dress code for the staff is a joke. Super tight and revealing clothing is worn daily, particularly by the Dean, who should be setting the example. The kids were great to work with and made the day interesting. All in all, don't waste your time here or risk your career with everything that goes on here. Go someplace better.

My time at Uplift Education was central to my professional growth and development, helping build a strong foundation that prepared me to navigate future roles with confidence. The organization maintains high expectations, with leadership that pushes for excellence and provides meaningful coaching and development opportunities. While the pace can make work-life balance challenging at times, the experience fostered strong time-management and leadership skills. Compensation and benefits were competitive within the charter school sector, and there were clear pathways for advancement for those committed to growth. The culture is mission-driven and centered on student success, with passionate colleagues who are deeply invested in their work, creating an environment that is both demanding and rewarding.

Uplift Education is a charter here in the DFW area that believes in providing the best quality education for at risk students.  Their mission is to send 100% of our scholars to college.  Their motto reads, 'Not if, but when!'  
As an educator, we were required to arrive for work by 7:30 as scholars arrived to eat breakfast.  We were required to stay until carline ended, around 4-4:30.  
Management at Triumph Preparatory was amazing.  Our leaders valued us a educators and people.  They understood the difficulties and challenges of working in the world of education, and tried their hardest to provide a healthy work life balance.  
The most difficult part of the job were the hours and pressure of performing.  The most enjoyable part of the job was seeing our scholars thrive academically and reach their goals.  There is nothing like seeing your scholars achieve and have pride in themselves.

I have held a variety of roles at this company-- interventionist, dean and instructional coach.  I think this speaks to the ability for people to move in their roles based on what they need in their life at the moment.  I do understand that every Uplift school is different and that the quality of your manager makes a wolrd of difference, but overall I have found this a rewarding place to work.  No place is perfect, but I appreciate that Uplift central office is always looking at how to improve as a network.  They set new goals each year based on what they are seeing, and seem really responsive to data.  At my school, there is high trust that we are all working towards the same purpose-- to provide the very best educational experience for our scholars and families and close the achievement gap.  Many staff members also enroll their own kids in the school.  I think that speaks volumes!

Uplift tends to promote and hire on vibes and relationships, rather than performance or student outcomes. There are some amazing people and then there are people who are the peter principle personified. 
Expect a reorg every couple of years. No one really ever gets dismissed if you want job security, but that also means you'll work under some really ineffective principals and leaders. 
No departments speak to each other well and you can expect a new plan or initiative every month to throw off whatever cadence you build on your campus. Expect to do like 6 stage interviews for entry level jobs if you ever want to leave the classroom. Applying for a 1500$ stipend role will involve an essay and 3 pages of prework. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Depending on what school you are working in, the atmosphere can be great and fun with lots of interaction and support or the polar opposite. Some campuses have a very cold and unwelcoming feel, and are pretty miserable places to work



What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Enormous amount of micro management.  Huge.   Much more worried about the bottom line of schoools bringing in money than actually providing services kids need, most especially in special ed.  They are not trained and should not be able to call themselves special educators.  It's horrible

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Stressful and all about the bottom line.   Seemed very fake.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Seeing kids all day and constantly having to take paperwork home to finish.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Teacher 14 salaries reported	$61,571 per year
Elementary school teacher 17 salaries reported	$63,471 per year
Teacher's aide 7 salaries reported	$69,571 per year
Special education teacher 9 salaries reported	$63,000 per year
Spanish teacher 37 salaries reported	$60,136 per year

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