Austin ISD Reviews

Pros

Very dedicated teachers and administrations
Very forward-thinking about educational reform
Competitive wages (especially in difficult areas)
Austin is a very pleasant place to live, and the cost of living is low
Exceptional dedication to teacher training
Most school at least attempt a mentoring system for new hires

Cons

Like most schools these days, teaching is an increasingly difficult profession
Texas state exams are the one and only measure of success
Like most school systems, the bureaucracy can be stifling, the culture confusing, and the politics deadly.
Austin is very racially segmented by area, and various school choice programs leads to a really broad range in school quality.
As are most Texas schools, AISD is underfunded.

Advice to Senior Management

Introduce more job training into every level of education: students learn better when they see the applicability of their studies.

Pros

Austin is a fantastic city in which to live. There are many schools, so locations can be selected close to one's preferred teaching area.

Cons

The administrators, perhaps well intentioned, are not very helpful or effective. The way in which administrators treat degreed professionals is completely out of line with anything I have encountered in the private sector. A great deal of school decisions take place in closed-door meetings without soliciting the input of teachers. Much of AISD seems to be about teaching to the TAKS test. Administrators seem only to really care about their schools passing the State test and, therefore, teach to the middle group of students. The very low-level students and the very high-level students are given little to no consideration so that the focus can be on the larger middle group of students who will pass the State test and give the schools an acceptable testing rating.
Worksheets and outdated pedagogy are prevalent in classrooms. Often times, administrators with very little classroom experience are promoted to principal and vice principal positions. Many of them lack the skills needed to direct a campus filled with degreed professionals.

The Administrators in the Central Office are uninspiring, lack imagination, and seem to be only concerned with sounding good and looking good when they interface with district employees. As a whole, they are quite unimpressive. Sadly, they possess very little creativity or inspiration.

The few bright and inspiring administrators that I encountered did not seem to last long in the schools as they (rightfully) chose not to focus the massive amount of school resources and teacher efforts on worksheets and prepping students solely to pass a test.

Sadly, in AISD the TAKS is the singular focus of schools; everything else takes a backseat while students drown in worksheets, test prep efforts, and ill-advised school administrators.

Advice to Senior Management

Learn how to treat teachers with something more than derision. Stop promoting administrators who have little classroom experience. The school focus is only about passing the TAKS test.

Pros

Great mix of staff that are interesting

Cons

lower pay than some other parts of texas

Advice to Senior Management

more relevant staff development

Pros

The students you will teach are the best!

Cons

The Communication between the district office and the schools is poor. In some schools, the administration leadership is poor.

Advice to Senior Management

Please take a serious look at the Principals and their leadership styles.

Pros

Location. Some good shopping in town and close to everything else in Texas. It's a 3 hour drive to Dallas, 2.5 hour drive to Houston.

Cons

Low wages compared to cities of same size. My wages are the same as someone living in a city with only 40,000 people. Austin has close to a million people. The wages should be much higher.

Advice to Senior Management

Increase wages for teachers. Provide higher stipends for high-needs areas like bilingual education and special ed. That might make people stick around.

Pros

As a large district, Austin ISD has access to vast resources. I rarely found a time when supples were not available to me.

Cons

Austin ISD does not seem to care very much about retaining its teachers. The principals have all gotten to be principals based on politics instead of qualifications. I have worked in several different school districts in two different states, and Austin Independent School District is the only one I could not recommend. The salary is not as high as surrounding districts, the insurance is just on par. Austin ISD gives less sick days than surrounding districts.

Advice to Senior Management

I would advise Senior Management to be more careful in selecting school principals.

Pros

Austin ISD is a progressive school district which offers plenty of quality professional development opportunities. Austin ISD offers a stipend for National Board certified teachers. Other area districts do not. The district is extremely well organized and runs efficiently, for the most part. The standards and expectations are high. I am fortunate to teach at a high performing school. I appreciate the creative freedom I am given to do my job. The high expectations on my campus and in my district cause me to be a better teacher. I have observed that many effective leaders are hard at work in administrative positions and really listen to teachers to use their feedback to constantly help make AISD better.

Cons

The district is so large that it is easy to feel like just a number.

Advice to Senior Management

Granting teachers the creative freedom to do their jobs according to their own unique styles and methods has been the single most beneficial initiative the administration at my school has taken. Teachers feel supported and respected, although overworked.

Pros

For teachers, for people that are going to be having a family, for people who enjoy summers off, AISD is a great place to work. Like all school districts, summers and winter and spring breaks are times off, which is great if you want to vacation in sync with your school-aged children.

If you're lucky enough to be assigned to one of the schools targeted for special attention, like the all-girls school or the computer-intensive program at Akins High School, then you're in with a very motivated teaching and administrative team.

Because of its proximity to Dell, the educational technologies (computers, teaching tools, etc.) are great: pretty much the latest Apple toys, electronic "chalk" boards, etc. There's not enough of anything for everyone at a school, except the "special" campuses, but having been at other districts, it's certainly better than most.

On the services and operations side, there's a lot to be said for some groups. The transportation team, especially the administrative side, are generally happy. I know groundskeepers that work two hours a day to finish their gigs, then hang for the rest of the time. Food services, again especially in the administration, is usually a happy place, with good leadership.

If you want to be somewhere, work somewhat hard (if you're not a teacher), and get a pension when you're done, you can do a lot worse than AISD. Google this ain't! And, if yo do even a mildly competent job and play nice with some of the right people, your chances of being laid off are pretty low.

Cons

Yeah, it's like every school district: there is an amazing amount of politics going on where it's entirely unnecessary. Whites grumble about the "Hispanic mafia," where Latinos get into jobs. African-Americans are complained at similarly. (Of course, there are overwhelming numbers of whites at the district, so who's to know?) This silliness is just one example of what goes on there.

HR has no competence at actually finding and hiring qualified people. That's not so much a zinger at HR as much as it's a failure of the district to have even-handed ways of hiring for quality across the district. Principals basically can hire whom they want, and so long as they technically meet HR's guidelines, they're in. Of course, if you don't meet even a tweaky, technical guideline (like number of years of education, even for a non-teaching job), then you'll have to wait until you have the right service years , or get that dang degree, to get the job which you're qualified for.

Many of the top administrators are woefully incompetent at their jobs, and jobs are created just to keep incompetents in place. This runs the spectrum, from administrators "downtown" to long-term and highly-paid people at campuses. While this in of itself isn't a downside to working at the District, you'll probably bump up against these people when you work here, and that's sure to be a frustrating experience: their only priority is to keep their position unchallenged and unremarked, no matter who else is hurt by that -- including students.

On the technology side, administrative incompetence is practically the name of the game. If you're looking for a management position here, be warned: it's a hard job to do well without getting frustrated. I've seen a revolving door of managers through that department, with a lot of unhappy people stuck in place.

Advice to Senior Management

Take a hard look at administrators and certain positions that you're afraid to touch because of discrimination or political purposes. Then wield the axe, 'cuz property values are going down, and you're going to need that money to teach the kids!

And while you're irritating people, push through variable pay for teachers: get the dead wood out so you can get the kids' grades up!