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Explore Schools Reviews
Updated Aug 29, 2023
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Found 124 of over 124 reviews
53% Recommend to a Friend
71% Approve of CEO
Found 124 of over 124 reviews
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Karen Annette Francios
8 Ratings
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Top Review Highlights by Sentiment
Excerpts from user reviews, not authored by Glassdoor
Pros
Cons
Ratings by Demographics
This rating reflects the overall rating of Explore Schools and is not affected by filters.
- 5.0Jan 5, 2023ESIFormer Employee, more than 3 yearsBrooklyn, NY
Pros
The people at the network office are super smart, helpful, friendly - great coworkers. I always felt both supported and challenged. Expectations were high, but we were encouraged to work together and ask for help when needed to make things happen.
Cons
As is the case with many non-profits, a challenge can be that many of the "systems" are just one person's experience and knowledge. It makes it easy for things to fall through the cracks.
- 4.0Aug 29, 2023Managing DirectorFormer Employee, more than 5 yearsBrooklyn, NY
Pros
-approachable, inspiring, super smart leadership -collaborative in nature -comprehensive health benefits -great colleagues
Cons
-antiquated/manual data systems -inconsistent employee experience across teams and schools
- 3.0Apr 18, 2023TeacherFormer EmployeeBrooklyn, NY
Pros
A lot of great students! The families are really invested in the charter network. Planning days across the charter were helpful and it was nice to connect with other teachers and share resources across the network system. Curriculum the charter uses comes with a lot of resources teachers can build off of.
Cons
The charter required a lot from their teachers - and a lot of the requirements consisted of busy work. Expect longer hours and more hoops to jump through than if you work at a non-charter. Daily lesson plans were required, after school programming for teachers happened 4/5 days a week, and expect to be constantly reviewed and critiqued by your "coach" and principal. Salary jumps are less than if you were working for a public school in New York. Teacher retention at my particular location was low and that seemed to be a trend across the network.
- 1.0Jul 9, 2023TeacherCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearBrooklyn, NY
Pros
Co-teachers in every class except for enrichment classrooms. 12:1:1 classroom options. Pay is competitive.
Cons
Hours are 7:30-4:30 every day. There's a lot of talk about SEL and incorporating it into classrooms, making classrooms accessible, catering to the whole child, etc. but classroom management is mostly teachers yelling at and embarrassing students ("This is why you are repeating 2nd grade--you don't do your work and you don't listen"). Kids' needs are not taken into account. For example, K-5 get 15 minutes of lunch & 15 minutes of recess at 10:20 am, don't get snack time, and get punished for eating outside of meal time.
- 1.0Apr 29, 2023Anonymous EmployeeCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearBrooklyn, NY
Pros
most of the kids are sweet and hardworking
Cons
Empower lower is toxic. There's another review on here about the leadership and I gotta confirm it's true. The principal is incompetent and tries to hide it by being straight up mean to people. He talks down to others and it's very hard teaching here and working for someone who disrespect you daily. I don't think he actually trusts and respects anyone but himself. He is a micromanager and belittles his staff. If you're late or he thinks you've left your post 1 minute early- you get a nasty email like you're a child. Bye.
2 - 4.0Feb 23, 2023Special Education Teacher, Elementary SchoolCurrent Employee, more than 3 yearsBrooklyn, NY
Pros
Flexibility with Curriculum Positive work environment Opportunities to learn
Cons
Different Curriculum from entire school Different range of development in specialized classroom
- 4.0Mar 5, 2023Anonymous EmployeeFormer Employee, less than 1 year
Pros
Caring parents, support from leadership; focus on results
Cons
None to add at this time
- 4.0May 9, 2022K-5 TeacherFormer Employee, more than 1 yearBrooklyn, NY
Pros
If you're mission-driven to search in a place that puts anti-racist principals, this is the place for you. They're very dedicated to having these conversations at the local and network level. There is also a TON of room for growth if you have the drive to get past some of the chaos that can go down.
Cons
Things can be a little bit disorganized, the leaders are overworked and sometimes tend to micromanage instead of loosen the burden although they're all very kind and open to talk. It's hard to feel like you're getting valuable feedback. The curriculum is strict and there's limited flexibility for teachers to stray from that.
- 4.0Jan 27, 2023TeacherCurrent Employee, more than 10 yearsBrooklyn, NY
Pros
Leadership cares about staff members. Compensation has improved in recent years. Greatest students on Earth.
Cons
Poor communication Long Hours Space Issues
1 - 3.0May 3, 2023TeacherFormer EmployeeBrooklyn, NY
Pros
People are generally nice; hardworking
Cons
Overcomplicated work streams - making the work harder than it is
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Explore Schools Reviews FAQs
Explore Schools has an overall rating of 3.1 out of 5, based on over 124 reviews left anonymously by employees. 53% of employees would recommend working at Explore Schools to a friend and 40% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has decreased by -7% over the last 12 months.
53% of Explore Schools employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated Explore Schools 2.5 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.2 for culture and values and 3.4 for career opportunities.
According to reviews on Glassdoor, employees commonly mention the pros of working at Explore Schools to be senior leadership, career development, benefits and the cons to be management, work life balance.
