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Fort Worth Independent School District Reviews
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    Fort Worth Independent School District Reviews

    Updated June 26, 2017
    121 reviews

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    Full-time Part-time
    3.2
    Star Star Star Star Star
    Rating Trends Rating Trends
    Recommend to a friend
    Approve of CEO
    Fort Worth Independent School District Superintendent Walter Dansby
    Walter Dansby
    29 Ratings

    121 Employee Reviews

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    Pros
    Cons

    • Overworked, principals have your career in their hands, no support at district level (in 5 reviews)

    • The irony is that the training was given by a "former teacher" to "new teachers" (in 3 reviews)

    More Pros and Cons

    1. "AVID Tutor"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - AVID Tutor in Benbrook, TX
      Current Employee - AVID Tutor in Benbrook, TX
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at Fort Worth Independent School District part-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      You are on the frontlines on making an impact on students who are the future.

      Cons

      The education system (in America) has gotten off track in many ways. It seems as if it has lost the meaning of education.

      Advice to Management

      Contemplate what it means to be educated, how one ought to be educated, and why one should be educated.

    2. Helpful (1)

      "Teacher"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Teacher in Fort Worth, TX
      Current Employee - Teacher in Fort Worth, TX
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at Fort Worth Independent School District full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      If you like working with kids and making a difference one kid at a time this is the place for you!

      Cons

      You have to pay for all your supplies for yourself as well as your students. They are programmed NOT to even arrive to class with a notebook. It is just easier to supply materials rather than wasting valuable time calling home and explaining your problem. Also, although each school has a different climate, the district is so large there is no support from above whatsoever. 30 or more kids to a class is normal and my school had 8 periods with one off! That means 210 students! Some towns are this size! The bosses will walk in anytime and if you have a kid with his head down because he slept in a car last night, YOU are "graded down" because YOU did not keep him engaged, despite explaining the situation. TONS of paperwork, special ed kids with different needs mixed into regular classes where documentation is required as to how YOU adjusted the lesson to tailor their unique need as well as documentation of the 200 other students' unique learning styles. Required to call home when students' grade drops even slightly. "Encouraged/required" to sponsor an after school activity at least once a week. My school had a principal that encouraged tattle-taling of co-workers which created a work environment that consisted of cliques that seemed to compete with one another.

      Advice to Management

      Do not listen to tattle tales. Determine for yourself what is up. Pay more attention to how the students live and adjust your attitude and emphasize with their living conditions. Quit walking around the school as if you are the king that needs to be bowed down to.

    3. "Worked for a great team, district as a whole needs improvement"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      Former Employee - Administrative Associate in Fort Worth, TX
      Former Employee - Administrative Associate in Fort Worth, TX

      I worked at Fort Worth Independent School District full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      My team in the admin building was wonderful.

      Cons

      Rigid work environment with limitations

    4. Helpful (1)

      "Teaching World Languages in a Title-I School"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - High School Spanish Teacher in Fort Worth, TX
      Current Employee - High School Spanish Teacher in Fort Worth, TX
      Doesn't Recommend
      Positive Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at Fort Worth Independent School District full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      Great coworkers, autonomy (I could teach whatever I wanted), such a wide diversity of students requires very innovative methods

      Cons

      Students have so many unmet needs and resources are lacking, administrators don't always back up teachers, students socially promoted, discipline makes teaching nearly impossible, sent to many irrelevant professional developments (for foreign-language teaching), extremely low literacy rate

      Advice to Management

      Beautify the campuses that look depressing to boost morale. Institute uniforms and strict student ID checks. Hold kids and parents more accountable. Don't be too lenient because students take advantage of that. Educate students about trade-school options, especially those who do not wish to pursue college right away. World Languages needs a more solid curriculum; a first or second year teacher should not have to write a curriculum with insufficient training.

    5. "Not the best but not the worst"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Comp & Benefits
      Current Employee - Computer Lab Assistant in Fort Worth, TX
      Current Employee - Computer Lab Assistant in Fort Worth, TX

      I have been working at Fort Worth Independent School District full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      If you have school age children or just like to be off during holidays and summers this may be the job for you. However, be warned, you will need to know how to adapt to your teaching style to reach the student at their individual level.

      Cons

      Some students can be continuously disruptive with no real consequences from administration. School admins try their best but with little support from District Administration their hands are tied just like the classroom teachers.

      Advice to Management

      Can we get back to the basics. Let the teacher teach the child instead of teaching how to take a test.

    6. "Elementary Counselor"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee in El Dorado Hills, CA
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee in El Dorado Hills, CA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I worked at Fort Worth Independent School District full-time (More than 3 years)

      Pros

      The district staff are phenomenal.

      The school staff are kind but see below.

      Cons

      The testing pressure at the campus level is horrible. So at the campus I was at I was unable to do my job.

      Advice to Management

      Relax the stress on teachers to perform so high on state tests. The kids in the more impoverished areas have more stress than they can handle already just from home environments. They need to be kids and they need to learn how to deal with the stressors of home life. Pushing out guidance is the last thing they need when there is little guidance at home with 2 multiple job working parents.

    7. "Teaching"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      Current Employee - Teacher in Dallas, TX
      Current Employee - Teacher in Dallas, TX

      I have been working at Fort Worth Independent School District full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      I enjoy school starting at 9 because it allows me to take care of things in the morning.

      Cons

      The students can get so riled up to the point where it frustrates the teacher.

    8. "Bilingual Dual Langauage Elementary School Teacher"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Teacher in Fort Worth, TX
      Former Employee - Teacher in Fort Worth, TX
      Recommends
      Negative Outlook
      Disapproves of CEO

      I worked at Fort Worth Independent School District full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      Salary and and holiday off

      Cons

      Overworked, principals have your career in their hands, no support at district level

      Advice to Management

      Teacher support at district level and less power over career to principals

    9. "Good pay but typical struggles that go with education"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Teacher in Fort Worth, TX
      Current Employee - Teacher in Fort Worth, TX
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at Fort Worth Independent School District full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      pay, vacation, travel and PD opportunities

      Cons

      Too many managers make teachers frustrated

      Advice to Management

      cuts

    10. Helpful (1)

      "Too much is being asked of us now"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Elementary Teacher in Fort Worth, TX
      Current Employee - Elementary Teacher in Fort Worth, TX
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at Fort Worth Independent School District full-time (More than 8 years)

      Pros

      Making an impact on our community
      Working with commited and passionate educators
      Seeing children make growth and overcome learning obstacles

      Cons

      Too much of everything: paperwork, discipline issues, tests, documentation, meetings
      Lack of parental involvement
      Teachers have now become the enemy.

      Advice to Management

      Teachers have families they would like to be with after work or on the weekends. This isn't possible with the workload currently placed on teachers.

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