Uncommon Schools Reviews
35% would recommend to a friend
(867 total reviews)

Brett Peiser
47% approve of CEO
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Found 867 of over 917 reviews
Updated Nov 28, 2023
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Top Review Highlights by Sentiment
Excerpts from user reviews, not authored by Glassdoor
- "Uncommon provides great professional development for teachers and has rigorous and joyful classrooms for students." (in 40 reviews)
Ratings by Demographics
This rating reflects the overall rating of Uncommon Schools and is not affected by filters.
- 5.0Sep 7, 2023TeacherFormer Employee, more than 1 yearNew York, NY
Pros
Amazing team atmosphere great to be around
Cons
No cons for me in my situation!
- 5.0Sep 28, 2012Director of RecruitmentCurrent Employee, more than 3 yearsNew York, NY
Pros
Uncommon Schools is a really positive, warm environment. People work hard and have tons of joy in their collaboration!
Cons
We are growing quickly, so the work load is busy! This isn't really a con, just something for new folks to be aware of :)
626 - 5.0Jun 2, 2023Instructional LeaderCurrent Employee, more than 5 yearsBoston, MA
Pros
-Everyone who works at Uncommon and stays at Uncommon believes in the mission and champions students to fulfill their potential. -There are many opportunities for professional development, particularly for beginning teachers. -There is a strong sense of community among teachers, staff, and administration. -Families and guardians are actively involved and partnered with to ensure student success. -Student voice is valued and uplifted. -There are many pathways to leadership. -The team truly believes there is a place and space for all students to learn. -Curriculum is provided for all content and grade levels, tied to state standards and frameworks. -Open collaboration is encouraged among teachers, schools, partner districts, and among educators. -Recent increased focus on DEI initiatives for staff and students. -Strong SEL practices being emphasized across schools. -Teaching practices and development are research based. -Changes in systems or practices are based on specific feedback or data. -Organizational initiatives and priorities are clearly communicated.
Cons
-You have to be willing to do work on your own time. This can be a hard reality, particularly for new educators -Professional development across states sometimes does not account for differences between state standards/ regulations -You have to be willing to continue to learn and adapt as an educator and advocate of young people, holding team members accountable and embracing feedback as a form of care. This can be a hard reality, particularly for new educators -Benefits and pay are adapted to meet the needs of current staff and match similar districts to be competitive. This can mean you have to adjust to changes or advocate for your needs if guidance has changed over time
1 - 1.0Jul 12, 2023TeacherFormer Employee, more than 1 yearBoston, MA
Pros
- Lots of opportunity to build clubs, join initiatives - Working for amazing and deserving students - Many “teacher appreciation” meals - Curriculum pre-batched is sometimes helpful
Cons
- Working here as a minority POC for the area, I experienced a plethora of year long, racist remarks and actions by students. Despite bringing them to the attention of the principal and many other administration members, there was a failure to address these actions in any meaningful way. - The school higher ups did not “teach” staff with care, trust, or any pedagogically sound strategies. Hundreds of threatening conversations stamped with emails replaced educational professional development and or a normal power dynamic between employee and manager. I believe they were able to do this under the guise of “always learning” and having an “all means all” mindset. When I entered the position, I was very excited about the idea of having a support system as a new teacher, but was quickly made to feel that I could only teach using their words, mannerisms, and personalities. - If you choose to work here, I’d recommend considering your main excitements about teaching and hold them up against what RPC offers to staff. They do not support or uphold the joy in teaching or serving children of color. However, if you don’t want to explore making the career your own, trying new things with students, etc. and would rather prioritize moving up the ranks in a company, you might feel satisfied with Uncommon.
6 - 1.0Jul 20, 2023TeacherFormer Employee, more than 3 yearsBoston, MA
Pros
You will learn your worth.
Cons
Where to begin. They actually tried to incentivize people to write these for more money so we could start there. I should also probably start when the CEO went live multiple times to try and get teachers at a school dedicated to serve underserved POC to vote for Trump. Maybe the racism? In most settings outside of it, Uncommon is known to create shell-shocked teachers. I was attacked multiple times by students and admin did nothing and was later blamed. I received racist and hateful comments directed towards me by admin and no one did nothing either. I was chastised and bullied by admin on multiple occasions for teaching and pushing for curriculum changes due to racist practices also present. They constantly are not DESE compliant with regards to ESOL nor SPED students and for many schools there was no one who was a native Spanish speaker for the many Dominican and Puerto Rican families they serve. The system is punitive and students are traumatized early to stay in line. Teachers are denied comfortable footwear while being forced to stand the entire day. They will chastise you for language use and overwhelm you to feedback until you become traumatized by e-mails and other bullying tactics to maintain 'culture' while at the same time lowballing all POC staff with lower salaries than their white peers. Do not work here if you want a positive experience or wish to enjoy teaching.
9 - 2.0Oct 26, 2023TeacherCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearNewark, NJ
Pros
The staff is super welcoming (most of them). Usually in the mornings everyone is super uplifting, sort of a whole "we are all in this sort of suffering together" mentality so it brings the staff closer. Throughout the year a lot of people might check up on you and they attempt to offer you with supports like going over lesson plans and trying to help you effectively convey your information. Throughout the year you will also have to do a lot of practice to learn the taxonomy. The job is somewhat rewarding in that you will build relationships with kids and when they are on task and learning it is one of the greatest feelings.
Cons
Get ready to do an insane amount of work, there is zero work-life balance. My first two weeks I was working 12 hours a day and consistently felt behind no matter how much work I put in. As I learned to manage my time and knew what I had to do and got more familiar the work hours decreased and I could leave on time but there were a few times I worked like 14 hour days to catch up or learn something new. The stress of the job is a lot and I can see how burnout is super prevalent. Expect phone calls from parents and kids after school hours as well if their child ever gets in trouble or they want to know something in particular. There were multiple times where I would be out eating dinner or about to fall asleep and I had received phone calls and either had to step out of the restaurant or pick-up as my eyes are closing because I was scared that parents would complain they could not get ahold of me. Expect to also take work home in addition to working at school. Leadership will kind of blame you if kids are off-task, not directly but they kind of make you feel guilty if a student is misbehaving and chalk it up to the fact that your teaching was not engaging enough. Most of the staff is super nice and willing to help you especially if you are a first-year teacher but there are definitely still cliques and an underlying toxicity. Some teachers might make you feel stupid for asking questions or being unsure about something which will then make you afraid to ask in general. They prioritize feedback insanely -- you can be teaching or in the middle of a lesson and they will give you real time feedback which I personally found helpful but some teachers may find annoying. The class sizes are also very large in relation to teachers, they have a certain quota of kids that they need per grade (I forget exactly what it is) so each class is like over 30 kids.
1 - 2.0Nov 22, 2023TeacherCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearNewark, NJ
Pros
The pay is alright. Better than many other places
Cons
Insane hours. Condescending supervisors. Work does not stop on weekends.
- 3.0Sep 28, 2023InstructorFormer Employee
Pros
It is a very positive, supportive atmosphere. They would have breakfast, coffee or tea available some mornings and even occasionally lunch. The administration attempts to foster a culture of acceptance and camaraderie.
Cons
The hours are fairly long with extensive prep time sometimes required in order to have lessons fully prepared for the next day of work. There is very little prep time or break time and your prep may be at odd hours, which may make it difficult to eat. You're on your feet most of the day and there are frequent afterschool meetings, which sometimes run till 5pm and are not always necessary.
1 - 3.0Nov 15, 2023Middle School Math TeacherFormer EmployeeBrooklyn, NY
Pros
Teaching materials are provided and there are more experienced teachers assigned to guide you.
Cons
There is high staff turnover so every year is like starting brand new.
- 2.0Nov 17, 2023Grade Team LeaderCurrent Employee, more than 3 yearsBrooklyn, NY
Pros
You will learn to be a teacher
Cons
Just look up typical NYC Charter Schools. It's all accurate.
Uncommon Schools Reviews FAQs
Uncommon Schools has an overall rating of 3.0 out of 5, based on over 917 reviews left anonymously by employees. 35% of employees would recommend working at Uncommon Schools to a friend and 41% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has decreased by -1% over the last 12 months.
35% of Uncommon Schools employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated Uncommon Schools 2.2 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.1 for culture and values and 3.4 for career opportunities.
According to reviews on Glassdoor, employees commonly mention the pros of working at Uncommon Schools to be senior leadership, benefits, career development and the cons to be management, workplace, work life balance.