Teaching at Achievement Prep

[Anonymous]

The negative reviews on glass door are more than accurate! I worked there and left before I lost my mind, as do so many other great educators. I could write an entire novel, but I will try and be short. I wouldn't allow my worst enemy to work at APA. They don't tell you before you're hired about all the things you will have to deal with, such as being told what to say (the founder actually got mad at people when they accidentally said 'kid' instead of child or 'student' instead of scholar) and they spend days teaching you how to WALK. You have to walk backwards and there are certain ways you have to walk up the stairs, certain ways you have to stand at a door frame and how you have to walk to the cafeteria. You are belittled for not walking correctly. You are also not allowed to sit down! There are no teacher desks in the classrooms so that there is nowhere for you to sit; a coworker of mine got in trouble for being caught leaning against the wall. I would come home crying in pain because my feet hurt so badly after standing up for 14 hours ( yes, I would work for 14 hours to get everything done!). The children have it even worse because they are not allowed to talk about 10 minutes per day. They have a completely silent breakfast where they do more math work, completely silent transitions, completely silent independent classwork (no projects, no collaborative learning), almost completely silent lunch ( they are also told when they can sit down and when they can eat), and a completely silent dismissal! They can only talk during their 10 minute recess. A lot of them wouldn't even get a recess because they get an automatic detention for things such as not having a pencil. Also, the transitions from one period to the next were so micromanaged that you would need a watch with seconds clearly visible because the transition instructions say things such as, "when 3/4 of the line from room 308 exits, 1/2 of the class from 305 May cross the threshold." I got in trouble one day because the lead teacher said I had lined up my class 30 seconds too late, so the next day I had them ready to go early and she got mad at me for having them lined up 30 seconds too early!! All of this is on top of that fact that Shantelle is just a downright cruel person. She loves to make people feel like they are worthless and she thinks she can get away with murder because she is a corporate lawyer. The year I left,the majority of the staff quit before the end of the school year and it wouldn't be uncommon for someone to have to take a medical leave of absence due to mental instability. Also, the elementary school is absolutely horrendous!! Their test scores are worse than almost all the other charters, but no one seems to have figured that out yet.

[Anonymous]

Is this true?

[Anonymous]

No. Disgruntled worker.

[Anonymous]

disgruntled, maybe, but i've heard this from many ex AP teachers.

[Anonymous]

You cannot hide all those allegations behind just one disgruntled teacher. If there are teachers constantly leaving, there has to be a reason. How are their test scores by the way?

[Anonymous]

Dang. That sounds terrible. No teacher desks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You cannot hide all those allegations behind just one disgruntled teacher. If there are teachers constantly leaving, there has to be a reason. How are their test scores by the way?

NP here. Their test scores are very strong, that's why parents send their kids there. Unfortunately it is not a supportive environment for the young people or the staff. Tons of turnover (more, from what I can see, than at many charters).

[Anonymous]

I'm a former teacher at APA and I can absolutely say that working there was a horrible experience. It is a little frustrating that people are making it seem like the only people who would post about their experience were at odds with members of administration or are "disgruntled" with the political nature of working at APA. Most of the teachers are simply fed up with the long hours, the astronomical workload, the laughable pay, and the fact that there are no consequences for scholar misbehavior. But- is leadership disrespectful towards teachers? Absolutely.

Also, academic performance at the middle school may be good, but at the ES it is nothing short of abysmal.