Pros
The mission to close the academic achievement gap. Pay is high for an entry-level teacher ($55,000)
Cons
While the mission of Uncommon initially drew me to the organization, the way the schools are going about "closing the achievement gap" is dubious at best. The 1 month "professional development" left me realizing Uncommon's methods truly are rooted in behavior control and little else. The strict behavior systems mirror a military school, and I for one believe it is ultimately disgraceful to treat children of color like liabilities that need to be "controlled" so rigidly (i.e. teaching kids procedures on how to sit, stand, walk, speak etc and. no recess, no talking during mealtime). It was disturbing to watch/be a part of. If you believe children should be given a quality education and be able to express themselves as individuals stay away. The Professional development is all about "standardizing" all of the staff to essentially act, speak, and give the same exact commands. They try to get you on board by giving you free stuff, making you feel like you're saving the world, presenting skewed statistics on success rates, but try to see it for what it is. Additionally, I was struck by the fact that we had an insane blow out party for hundreds of staff where everyone was put up in hotels etc. when the schools themselves still only have one slide projector in the actual classroom. Are you kidding? Invest that money back into the schools and get SMARTboards. As I was deciding whether or not to take this position I read glassdoor and thought the negative reviews were just from some random disgruntled employees who couldn't cut it. I realize now I should have listened. From day 1 I realized things were sketchy considered more than 4/5th of all staff at the Professional Development were new...The extremely high turn-over says everything about the organization. You were warned.