Success Academy Charter Schools Reviews

Pros

Work with amazingly passionate people. 401k Matching is great. Career progression and movement is available for those who work hard. Unlimited resources - Incredible amount of supplies (a teacher's dream). Everyday feels purposeful. Easy to get out of bed to do a hard job when you know how important your work is.

Cons

Science curriculum and school systems are always changing. Schools are focussed on "norms" but things are always changing to it feels like you're always doing something wrong. A lot of personal time (weekends) spent on work logistics. When one person on the team is sick, the school really suffers due to lack of substitute teachers. Culture of shaming. People are put on blast for missing deadlines, same is done to children....

Advice to Management

Consider having substitute teachers. It puts a lot of pressure on new teachers to be successful when they may need to take personal time off to take care of their health. It becomes an unhealthy spiral when teachers are so success oriented that they fear becoming sick and missing a day of instruction. This may be a long shot request due to the constant need for new teachers but I do believe that having substitutes will...

Pros

Strong professional development, excellent support from leadership teams, lots of opportunities for advancement, great curriculum, culture of winning, and last, but certainly not least, the kids and families are wonderful

Cons

Long hours (it's an extended day school), there can be some pressure to attain great results for kids, and work-life balance can be a struggle

Advice to Management

Always encourage teachers to fight for their kids' development (academically and emotionally) and base everything we're asked to do in this

Pros

Work here if you truly want to make a difference. You will be surrounded by people who are not only smart and passionate but are the best at what they do. You are constantly being challenged and invigorated by the sense of fulfillment at the end of each day. It's a teamwork driven workplace.

Cons

Long hours. Sometimes the force of the mission is lost because of the long days.

Advice to Management

Training on time management

Pros

Great benefits, opportunities to grow , fast paced environment

Cons

Not the most sustainable career, convoluted structures

Pros

Working at SA is extremely rewarding. The working environment is friendly and productive.

Cons

It is sometimes a struggle to find a work/life balance. Because are our organization is one of the hardest working in the education sector and we have 17k students, many projects are urgent, but well worth the work and extremely fulfilling.

Advice to Management

I think each team at network should spend time in a school at least 2 times a year. Seeing the scholars at school and in their environment really helps employees see what all their hard work is for.

Pros

It is an amazing experience. You learn so much that will help you up to lead any organization.

Cons

The demands are high and expectations are tuff.

Pros

-Professional Development is provided throughout the school year and in the summer so you are always getting better as a teacher -Leaders are constantly in and out of classrooms providing in the moment feedback to help you improve your trade -Materials are supplied for you (this was a huge PRO after coming from a public school where all of my supplies were purchased using my own meager paycheck) -The Education Institute...

Cons

-This job is not easy, but how can a job that yields such positive results be easy? You have to be in it for the right reason. -Sometimes it is hard to avoid taking home work, both physical work and the mental stress of the work. I found this to be the case in my 3 years of teaching prior to coming to Success, unfortunately, I believe it is simply part of the profession.

Pros

Excellent Professional Development for teachers and leaders. People are passionate to get excellent results by not low balling kids from the Bronx, or BK etc. The job is important but worth it.

Cons

The job is high stakes, important, and taxing.