Edison Schools Reviews

Pros

great collegial atmosphere
terrific mission of trying to help kids achieve/learn
get to work with kids/schools
opportunity to introduce solutions to k12 education

Cons

Had a great mission but focus is now just on selling the company
Constant re-organizations of senior leadership and co. in general
basic benefits for medical, terrible 401k

Advice to Senior Management

stop making so many organizational/people changes. your IP is walking out the door

Pros

Working for a cause that helps education is great. Knowing your efforts help the kids is rewarding.

If you want to just show up and get paid this is a great place to work. You can get by doing the absolute minimum in most positions with no consequence.

Care all very supportive and recognize talent and initiative making it a nice place to come to if you enjoy working with others and that spirit of the cause is motivating.

Great Winter Holiday break from xmas eve through NYE

A lot of freedom to work at own pace.

Cons

Staff are rarely recognized for effort or input.

Most leadership excel by pointing out flaws or obstacles and don't have the technical skills to offer solutions or regard their reports as SME's.

A new CIO almost every year....yet Managers have been in place for 10+

Lack of innovative technology and solid processes

Leadership doesn't know what skills their reports have and don't bother asking.

They are slowly outsourcing critical Technology jobs because Management can't retain the talent.

No yearly raises cause the "company is having to make sacrifices". But if you are considered "important" or threaten top leave you can rake in money.

High turnover creating a constant slowdown of progress.

I would not recommend working at this company

Advice to Senior Management

Don't argue and yell at people in front of others or on calls.

Get some kind of management training to learn how to build meaningful relationships with your reports.

Bring something to the table instead of dodging questions or passing off to reports.

Be an advocate for your staff, not an opponent.

Learn about new technology and get out of the way of smart people who want to grow. they will thank you for it by making your job easier and growing the company.

Pros

Corporate office review only:
Rewarding to know you're doing something to help children
Good Salary
Good Benefits
Good Communication by CEO

Cons

Cannot trust management
Poor feedback on performance - positive and negative
Poor treatment of employees by managers
Expectations unclear

Advice to Senior Management

Practice what you preach in the office. Your 8 Core Values.

Pros

You get a week off during Christmas break, which is nice. Unfortunately, I can't think of any other positives for this company after working there over 5 years.

Cons

I worked at this company for many years and It is nearly impossible to get a promotion at Edison Learning, unless you are a high executive. You can take on more and more responsibility but will never get compensated for it. Managers just assume you will do the work and will never even give you credit for doing a good job. They do not appreciate their employees at all.

The environment is very stressful. This company rushes everything in an effort to please customers. But, if backfires every time because the product is inadequate. This has been going on forever and Edison Learning just does not get it. The sales team promises the world and does not even consult with the technology team on how/when things can be implemented. Therefore, chaos ensues because expectations are too high and the company can never meet them.

I would not recommend anyone work for this company. The turn over rate is huge, because people can't take the stress and realize that there is no future for this company.

Pros

Good place to work fresh out of college as a stepping stone. Interview was not very technical so it will get you into the industry easily if you struggle with google-type interviews.

Cons

No room for growth. HQ has no idea how to run a software development team.

Advice to Senior Management

HQ should give their software development department (provost systems) autonomy to operate on its own.

Pros

Employees are offered oppotunities to volunteer their time at local schools once a year. Your involvement with students and teachers enriches your life and lends itself to a new level of respect for the teaching profession and for the challenges that students experience. Initially you feel that through your affiliation with Edison you are doing your part to support positive education reform in America. Overall, the people you work with are friendly.

Cons

You quickly realize that the company's value of the almighty dollar and pulling a profit are the primary driving forces behind their involvement in the academic arena. Privatized education is based on business models that fatten the coffers of the company and does not do enough to benefit the needs of schools and communities they serve.

Additionally, there are very few perks to working at Edison if any, very limited career mobility and extremely heavy workloads that often threaten to invade your weekends. Poor at retaining/recognizing top talent with excessively low retention (i.e., employees quitting, or forced to resign on a weekly basis- it's become an inside joke with staff in the know at how expendable employees are treated).

Bottom line: I would not recommend working for EdisonLearning. If you're looking for a career, all you will find here is a job.

Advice to Senior Management

A leaner portfolio may be good for your bottom line but it forces your employees to stretch themselves dangerously thin. Higher salaries at the top mean lower salaries and less resources for the folks at the bottom providing the grease that makes this machine run. When the foundation is not strong the top crumbles first. Take care of your employees and they in turn will be loyal to you.

Pros

Interesting opportunities within the field of education. Supportive colleagues.

Cons

Thomas Edison once said, "Success is 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration." I put in alot of hours as an EdisonLearning employee.

Advice to Senior Management

The further an employee is from students, the easier it is to slip into a 9-5 mindset and succumb to office gossip and politics. Make sure headquarters staff is working to initiate support for field staff, not just creating products and directives.

Pros

Opportunity to learn a lot on the job; telecommuting; involvement in public education; supportive colleagues; schools have an excellent curriculum, good teacher training, many good and excellent school leaders, vision and mission to help students achieve where traditionally students might not graduate from high school or attend college.

Cons

Lack of professional tools and resources to get the job done to the best of our ability; not enought training and professional growth; need more knowledge-sharing within and across departments; needs to be more support for work in the field rather than always doubting and questioning.

Advice to Senior Management

Invest in some more tools and more employees for high-need areas of the company and schools. Be realistic about what we can take on and do well.