teacher

special education teacher

english teacher

high school teacher

elementary school teacher

Yes-Prep-Public-Schools

I joined YES Prep as a first year teacher. I am not the biggest proponent of charter schools, but I decided to teach at YES Prep because I could do my certification and work right away and knew that I could leave and work for a regular school district after I had my certification. I was initially hired to only teach two sections of a class, but I was given an extra one. I have a medical condition and I relayed to my director my concerns as a first year teacher, doing my certification, while also treating and dealing with my medical condition. Those concerns were nicely validated and minimal accommodations were made but I was truly put in an impossible situation. I was having such a difficult time with everything even though I was working to the bone and doing all the recommended things to do when I reached out to support. Unfortunately, my health began to decline and negatively affected my work performance and the relationship with my students and colleagues negatively and I had to part ways.  

Unfortunately, the truth is YES Prep is another charter school, A.K.A. business, that runs under the guise of a shallow mission to address the educational gap in the  U.S yet students are not held accountable and are passed on, there is little or no innovation in school structure, curriculum, and environment, and teachers, namely those with no experience, are expected to take on way more than they can chew and are held up to ridiculous standards, even when they get work than what they initially signed up for. I bought into the mission, I worked hard, and did my absolute best, which was not enough to stick it in the long run. My experience in YES Prep has pretty much deterred me from a career in secondary education and now I'm focused on teaching in academia instead.

I  believe if you truly do care about learning, education, and give kids an excellent learning experience - you will be disappointed with YES Prep. There are great benefits to  YES Prep, and did learn and grow a lot, but be warned: most people are in it for the benefits and pay, job security, the ability to move up, or their teacher certification. If those things are what you look for, then go for it, just don't find yourself attached to any noble pursuits.

YES Prep is a great place for people who are passionate about education, service, and social justice. 

This is the hardest job you will ever love. It is a challenging but meaningful commitment to providing the equitable educational opportunities that every child deserves.

Working at YES taught me a great deal professionally. I learned about time management, the delicate lessons of work life rhythm, curriculum and instruction, classroom management, and leadership. I learned how to be a better team mate and team leader, working with adults, parents, and students to accomplish our common goals. I worked along side passionate individuals who each believed in our mission. Although we didn't always agree on the best way to do things or the best route to a particular outcome, we all believed in the outcome. Personally, it was a great growth experience for me. I learned a great deal about humility, my own strengths and weaknesses, my beliefs about others, and education. I learned more from my students and their parents than I ever thought I would.

This is a difficult job, it requires a great deal from you. There will be times that you feel the work is tough and you don't have enough time. You will have times where you feel like your work is overwhelming. You will experience fatigue.

But you keep going. The staff is there to support you. Your voice matters. You can be an advocate for changes in your environment for the better, and you can make a difference in your life and the lives around you.

No job is perfect, not even YES Prep. But they are consistently working to make changes to the environment that would make it an even better place to work.

Yes Prep is a very difficult place for teachers with prior teaching experience. Overall, the benefits and salary are significantly lower than other districts in the area, not factoring in the extended hours you will work at YES compared to other teaching jobs in the area. Teaching can be an incredibly rewarding job and there are definitely some wins in this field. Most of my colleagues were wonderful, hardworking teachers eager to make a difference in the communities they served. The hardest part of this job was an impossible work load paired with low expectations for the students. There is minimal support for you in your classroom and unreachable goals set upon you from administration. Instructional coaches are provided, but they lack the experience and knowledge to be able to push you beyond your early years in the classroom. Most instructional coaches have less than 3 years in the classroom. 

There is also an extremely high turnover rate in the district due to teacher burnout. You do have decent job security because of high turnover, but there are always questions about compensation from year to year. YES does not address nor care about keeping high quality veteran teachers, at the expense of the students they serve. This works to further destabilize our most vulnerable communities at a time when they need consistency and support. This precedent is set by the CEO, who got a bonus for over $1 million last year yet teacher salaries and school budgets are decreasing. The mission is appealing, but is not followed through by the organization. As a teacher, you can work in another neighboring district, receive higher compensation, more support and make just as much of a difference. I would proceed with caution before accepting a job with YES.

YES Prep has taught me more than I could have ever expected. I have the opportunity to work with passionate and committed individuals on a daily basis. The intentional investment in development of students and staff is extremely motivating to be around.

With that said, the work is hard. During my time as a teacher, I arrived to the school around 7am and left around 5:30pm. From there, I often graded papers or lesson planned after arriving home. The more years I was in the classroom, the more I was able to find my balance, but in my first year specifically, I was challenged to grow in every way imaginable. Luckily, I was never left without support. From my instructional coach, to my dean of instruction, to my course leader, to fellow teachers on my grade level, I always felt comfortable reaching out for support. I also appreciated that many times support was offered or given without me always knowing what area to ask for help in. 

Overall, the most enjoyable part of the job for me is always the interaction and relationship I'm encouraged to build with my students and families, but being surrounded by a like-minded and committed community of staff is an added bonus. As a teacher, I also appreciated that YES Prep seeks constant feedback. Anytime I sought rationale or provided feedback, I felt my administration were quick to respond and truly cared about listening to what I had to say. The relationship with administration always felt open and honest.

It was not until I left YES Prep Public Schools that I understood that it is a great place to work (in comparison to other places) IF you are under the right leadership. YES Prep Public Schools is more diverse than it has ever been before which is a good thing. They very much have roles and campuses at which minorities will thrive at and others where minorities will not. Overall, what I do appreciate about my experience with YES Prep is you will grow as a leader, as a professional and as a person. Some of the skills that I still use to this day are habits that I developed while working in the YES environment which is very high performing. 

A typical day was putting out fires, as you will wear many hats working at YES. Which makes the days eventful and never the same! The hardest part of the job was accepting that without an Education (teaching) background, growth within the organization would be very hard. Some of the positions are dead-end jobs. I know this is something they were working on, so I am sure it has improved. YES Prep is also a place, as many that if you are in with the right people, you will reach much success within the organization, with minimal experience. 

The most enjoyable part of the job is that no matter what role you worked in, you saw the differences your efforts made in the lives of students that attended YES Prep. If passion drives you, you will enjoy working for YES Prep.

Yes Prep used to be excellent, but in recent years cuts to funding have made it an increasingly difficult place to work if you're an experienced teacher. If you are new to teaching, the support and experience provided to get you started and successful is top notch. The first year salary is very competitive as well. However the district slashed they salary scale for experienced teachers a few years ago, making it impossible to grow your salary to match your expertise. On top of that, experienced teachers are offered no outside development opportunities... You're only allotted the same PD given to first years, and they're often planned and presented by 2nd-3rd year teachers who know less than you.

All and all I learned a lot there and enjoyed my time, but felt forced out after 6 years because there was no opportunity for me to advance my craft or my salary.

They also cut some key admin and counseling salaries, so be prepared to have managers/support staff with high turnover and often little experience. This can be really frustrating and detrimental to students.

Working as a teacher at Yes Prep was a mixed experience for me. On one hand, I enjoyed the opportunity to work with students and help them learn and grow. The school environment was generally supportive, and the administrative staff was friendly and helpful when I needed assistance.

However, there were some challenges that made the job more difficult than it needed to be. The workload was often heavy, with long hours required for lesson planning, grading, and meetings. This made it difficult to maintain a work-life balance, and I often felt overwhelmed by the demands of the job.

Another issue was the lack of resources available to teachers. The school did not have adequate technology, supplies, or teaching materials, making it difficult to provide the best possible education to students. Additionally, limited professional development or training opportunities were offered, making it difficult to stay up-to-date with best practices in teaching.

Overall, working as a teacher at Yes Prep had its ups and downs. While I enjoyed working with students and felt supported by the school environment, the heavy workload and lack of resources made the job more challenging than it needed to be.

I enjoy teaching at YP, however it's mostly due to me being extremely independent and proactive/organized. This is an organization that does not hold hands whatsoever, despite hiring large amounts of first year/unlicensed teachers. You will be constantly observed by many different admin and coaches especially if you're teaching an AP or STAAR course, and good data is all they want to see at the end of the data. This is challenging when most of the student body is not very academically motivated or accountable, and AP courses are being pushed out to all kids instead of those that actually want the rigor. SEL resources are slim to none and your experience will vary heavily by the campus you work at. Admin at mine definitely have "pet project" kids that they would bend over backward for, and students are very aware of the favoritism and how it impacts school culture. My advice would be to make friends with your principal and your instructional coach right out of the gate so you can get basic things like your PTO requests approved or more supportive coaching. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
The best part of working at Yes Prep was the students. Such great kids. Some of the most challenging individuals became my best students.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Some of the most stressful parts about working for YES PREP: Constant micro-managing. The countless meetings, the lack of communication and the pushing of narratives that shouldn't be pushed.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very different and did not align with my values. I worked two years there and couldn't bring myself to do another year there. High teacher work call out. Many unnecessary meetings. A lot of racism and favoritism.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Typical day of teaching. Most of the work load is provided to you as a teacher but it varies. Many meetings and a lot of your planning period is taking away or cut in half, due to a high volume of teacher call out.

YES Prep is an example of what happens when 27-yr.-olds are in charge of a school system and control millions of dollars.  Low teacher pay, minimal staff/teacher raises, low-quality benefits, narrow-minded leadership, general culture of uninformed zealotry.  Garden-variety place - intellectually speaking - with a smoke-and-mirrors record of success, mostly fabricated.  The actual college readiness of the students was under 20%.

Charter school that does what all charter schools aim to do: get (mostly underrepresented) students admitted into college.  That's the easy part; the hard part is ensuring that these sought-after kids are actually prepared to succeed in college and YES Prep doesn't come close to succeeding in that "mission."  Not even sure they were aware of it as a mission, after observing the hiring practices.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Teacher 10 salaries reported	$61,850 per year
Special education teacher 3 salaries reported	$70,000 per year
English teacher 13 salaries reported	$64,308 per year
High school teacher 4 salaries reported	$62,250 per year
Elementary school teacher 6 salaries reported	$62,542 per year

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