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Great Hearts Academies

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Great mission, mediocre execution, poor pay - Lead Teacher Great Hearts Academies Employee Review

3.0
4 Sept 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Classical education is a truly beautiful thing. The fact that Great Hearts has offered it for free via the public charter system is wonderful, laudable, and a treat to be a part of. Seeing so many diverse kids become excited about great texts and ideas is an amazing reward during a hard day's work.

Cons

Hours are long, the expectations for teachers are very high, and the pay is terrible--worse than public schools, certainly, but even worse than many private schools. It is simply not worth teaching at Great Hearts when there are other classical private or charter schools around doing as good a job with better pay and better work/life balance. Being a charter school, there's a lot of paperwork and red tape that must be done and feels like it has nothing to do with your actual job as a teacher. Lastly, administration seems extremely hit-or-miss. At my campus, it was mostly a miss. Admin is often promoted quickly and to positions beyond their experience, seemingly just because they worked with or were liked by previous admin. Some were merely incompetent, some caused needless stress and strife for employees, and a few were real gems and made the job bearable.

Explore other reviews about Great Hearts Academies

5.0
29 June 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Intentional and caring work with children.

Cons

Demanding work, but ultimately fulfilling.

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Great Hearts Academies Response
2d
Thank you for your feedback. We know our students, parents and community make our academies incredibly unique and special. We know there is always room for improvement. We are open to constructive critiques and recommendations. We value the unique and individual contributions of our teachers and staff. It is imperative to meet our standards while considering new teaching techniques. We know that this important work is at times challenging. Still, we believe the mission is worthy of our continued commitment, and Great Hearts strives to support teachers and staff through effective leadership, professional growth, and fidelity to the mission.
3.0
9 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

1) Hard to get fired 2) Lowest monthly premiums for benefits I’ve experienced 3) There are busy and slow seasons. Some times you have far too much work to complete in 40 hours and other times you may only have 20 hours of work

Cons

1) Low pay 2) Leadership could be better mainly HR/People Ops, individuals seemingly put into higher up positions based on tenure at the company rather than job experience. 3) Little to no room for growth in HR/People Ops. 4) No annual review process formal or informal and no raises based on individual merit 5) a standard company wide increase each year is in place but it’s typically 2% so not even an amount that keeps up with the cost of living 6) it can feel cliquey

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Great Hearts Academies Response
2mo
Thank you for your feedback. We will share with our leadership your comments. We strive to set a standard of excellence for our students with a focus on a rich liberal arts curriculum and emphasis on moral formation. Great Hearts does provide excellent benefits (medical, dental, etc.), with employee premiums that are significantly below the national and regional averages. We have been engaged in ongoing work on this issue for several years despite no significant funding increases from the states in which we operate, and simultaneously we must balance the need to maintain smaller class sizes, robust network resources, and safe and welcoming campuses. Great Hearts does provide excellent benefits (medical, dental, etc.), with employee premiums that are significantly below the national and regional averages. We have increased our salary ranges in certain regions over the past year. We will continue to work to improve in these areas.
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