Influential experience, pushed me to grow to become a strong teacher, leader, and advocate for our students - Anonymous employee Achievement First Employee Review

I can't thank you enough for capturing your experience so clearly for us. What you described very much resonated with me. Someone once told me that AF was the hardest thing they'll ever love, and it sounds like you had a similar experience. It's a gift and privilege to be surrounded by an amazing team doing the country's most important work, with the goal of accomplishing something many people would wrongfully say is impossible. But it's a privilege that has a cost: it's very hard work. And this is especially true at our newer "founding schools," as you described. I was lucky to be part of founding an AF school and I think it can have all the excitement, challenge, and fatigue of a start-up. We are trying to change this at AF by significantly reducing the number of new schools we open each year (we've grown at less than 10% for the last three years), and getting way more systematic about the support we give those schools with guidance, curriculum, proven school systems, and very intentional training for all of its leaders and teachers. We've seen a big difference in the last couple of years but as your experience obviously shows -- there is more work to be done. -Tom Kaiser, Chief Talent Officer