Pros
Good part-time pay. Teaching can be very personally rewarding. Teaching hones presentation skills and skills related to the material. I found that by teaching skills such as formal logic my mind was always sharp and any lingering fears I faced with regard to speaking to a crowd were completely removed. There are a lot of great skills that can be developed here, though most folk will likely have the bulk of what the job offers after just a few classes. The KAPLAN bottom line of helping people achieve their career goals is inspiring and, in some cases, a reality. I have helped a variety of people get into fantastic schools and I feel good knowing that I could help.
Cons
Management will not support you. No raises or rewards for good work. Evaluation based solely on post-class student survey. The company views you as two numbers, both of which are determined by students during an email survey after the class is finished. KAPLAN has extremely high goals attached to these surveys, impossibly high, such that even when an instructor does very well they are unlikely to meet these goals. The system also punishes some instructors for helping out, or at least offers no acknowledgment of their good work. Ex: An instructor takes over a class for someone who is leaving. That instructor then gets stuck with negative feedback connected to the change in teachers, even where the students are happy with the new instructor's work. That instructor, then, has received negative numbers despite helping the company and her direct supervisor out. Events like this have happened to me repeatedly. Many instructors in the current system may never even meet their boss. It's all remote now, and all the boss cares about is staffing issues combined with scores - that's how the next higher tier is evaluated. Those supervising instructors may have little to no classroom experience, yet they are called on to carefully manage the development of these instructors. KAPLAN tries very hard to avoid paying teaching rate. Expect to be paid minimum wage or near that amount for all other work, including mandatory training. Unless you live in a very large urban area and are able to consistently make the vast majority of students like you then a pay raise is not going to happen. Long-term employment, performing extra duties, and saving the day are all things the company does not care to reward. Morale at my center is extremely low and has been for about nine months now. There are zero happy employees here. Any concerns or issues are handled with corporate-speak. This is frustrating given the number of highly educated people hired by the company. The language used to dismiss employees is very clear to those accustomed to such hype, but the management seems to believe it is being clever.
