Not For Public School Teachers/People Who Like Balanced Lives
Pros
If you like being constantly told what to do and how to do it, uniformity across classrooms and grade levels and believe in "paycheck" systems, then Valor is for you. If you've only ever worked at a charter school and don't know what autonomy is, you will love it.
Cons
If you've come from a public school background, it might not be a good fit. The charter world does not have substitute teachers, cafeteria workers or even real janitors. You will end up being all of those things more times than you can count. They expect you to give 110% all the time and micromanage your curriculum, instruction and mentoring to unbelievable levels. School days are always from 7 am to at least 4 pm but most days you will work until 5, with only 18 minutes for lunch. At the beginning of the school year, we all worked at least 13-14 hour days, and by the end of the year it was only down to 11 if you were lucky plus at least 12 hours over the weekend. The CMO team is very out of touch with what classroom teachers need and want but are happy to issue directives and critique you at any moment. Like all new charters, they are driving the car as they build it, so things are always changing, leaving you juggling things that haven't been thought through, failing initiatives or trying to remember what the newest thing is. Branding and staying on message are important and teachers are reprimanded for not using the Valor language or behavior management systems at all times. Because Valor has so much good press and is always trying to get new donors, your classroom will be like a zoo and you are the animal on display. The school is beloved in the charter world, but the students hate it, as do many of the teachers, who feel over-worked, underpaid and frustrated. Administration will do whatever they can to please families and look good, even if it is not a sound decision. The biggest con by far is how test-driven Valor is. It will suck your soul. Every single lesson must be designed to meet a standard and be able to assess it with multiple choice questions. You are forced to give up 120 minutes of instruction every quarter so students can take 40 question multiple choice and open ended response tests that you have to spend two days (that students get off of school) laboriously analyzing to discover what questions/standards each student missed and planning how you are going to reteach them (even though that never actually happens). All of these questions are aligned to the TNReady, which is Valor's whole purpose - all they care about is how many students they can get to pass the test. Each quarter, you look for students who are on the cusp of passing and you are forced to focus on them, even though you are teaching 120 students with no assistance, and you completely ignore the ones who have no chance of passing or completely get it already. All instruction goes out the window in the 3rd quarter - you are forced to stop teaching and do ONLY multiple choice test prep for three full weeks. After the tests are over, you are allowed the freedom to teach what you want how you want, because it no longer matters. Valor is great at putting a spin on things to make them look great, but they are usually actually falling apart. This is a school that will burn you out and make you want to have a different profession. If you want to have no social life, high blood pressure and no autonomy, Valor is the place for you.