not worth the misery - Teacher Achievement First Employee Review

The downsides are many and tough to list systematically. In short: no professionalism, exploitation of workers, and non-human approach to management of staff and youth. This counts across the board for the network. The impact of this is a really horrible Retention Rate, which has been flagged to employees by management, but not remedied. Some concrete examples: Only one bathroom for 50 employees. 7AM start time each day, and most usually aren't done with work until 5PM. Unannounced observations where administrators take over teachers' lessons by way of coaching. Staff are hired at-will, and many "expectations" are reinforced with fear rather than explicitly stated. Most teachers are single and young, and they will admit that this job consumes their entire life and then some. Feedback is given by way of checklists, and managers don't always have time to give mentorship to teachers. There are dozens of Action Requests, and sometimes this involves filming lessons or demonstrating a specific Action Step was Mastered Effectively according to a "Criteria for Success." This corporate language is implemented constantly for kids and adults, and it dehumanizes all interactions in the workplace. You may not think it's developmentally appropriate for 5-9 year olds to sit up straight, silently, and with hands folded for multiple consecutive hours. No matter. If you're not interested in "reinforcing all school expectations," AF is happy to tap into the vast pool of NYC labor to find another (untrained) soul who will. If you do sign up for this, at least you know that you can resign at any time & read up on your employee's rights so that you do not get bullied or pressured by your managers. Good luck!