Don't Trust the Positive Reviews -- They were Mandated - Anonymous employee Achievement First Employee Review

Yikes. This review was both troubling and sad to read. Clearly something (or many things) went deeply off the rails here. In the past, I have benefited when reviewers have reached out to have an honest conversation with me about experiences that went deeply wrong. And every time, I learn from them. That invitation is certainly extended here, and my email address is tomkaiser@achievementfirst.org. For other Glassdoor readers, I do want to make some clarifications: 1) As an organization, we welcome feedback. We thrive on it. Even when it stings or seems extreme, there is truth in every perspective and we benefit from it. Whether in person, in a survey, over email, or on Glassdoor – we frequently ask our people for feedback and we take it in all forms. 2) We don’t “mandate” people to write Glassdoor reviews. I’m not actually sure how we would do that if we wanted to but worth stating it for the record nonetheless. 3) Other stuff that is matter of record: we have 32 schools and principals. Half of them identify as people of color (none are 25 years old :) ) – which signals a lack of diversity to us because almost all of our kids and families identify. Every year the vast majority of our teachers stay with us (we’re on track for approximately 80% from this year to next year). It’s not enough, but we’re working on it. 4) I don’t want to respond point by point to the view of our student culture presented in this review. But anyone considering applying for a teaching position at AF will also get to visit the school and spend as much time as they want seeing it for themselves, which we think is a very important part of the process. -Tom Kaiser, Chief Talent Officer