Good Intentions, but a misleading organization - Middle School Teacher Uncommon Schools Employee Review

2.0
Dec 23, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The people you will work with here care. They are passionate, and driven, and excited about doing hard work.

Cons

Uncommon Schools will say one thing, but their actions won't align. At this point in time, they are developing a (deserved) reputation for not being able to retain great teachers, or attract experienced ones. The result is a heavy reliance on people who are new to teaching and education, which in turn creates an environment that frequently feels overly stressful and extremely micromanaged. From dictating what style you may or may not format your lesson plan into, to requiring teachers to script out the pathway they will walk in their classroom, to continually mandating their employees travel outside of their schools for rallies, teacher training, to adding on more and more responsibilities to teachers (then blaming them when things fall apart), Uncommon does not act like a place that values it's teachers as humans, only as their outputs. They will tell you they value joy, they will send you emails that say they appreciate you and buy you bagels when a week is hard, but they do not address the root causes of issues in meaningful ways.

Explore other reviews about Uncommon Schools

5.0
Feb 19, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Provides amazing training for new staff

Cons

At times, sustainability can be an issue

5.0
Sep 28, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Uncommon Schools is a really positive, warm environment. People work hard and have tons of joy in their collaboration!

Cons

We are growing quickly, so the work load is busy! This isn't really a con, just something for new folks to be aware of :)

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