Pros
When I started in 2010 Mastery was a network of a few schools which had very high standards for both teachers and students. A lot was expected of me, but when I called a dean for support with a classroom disruption that student was also held accountable which allowed me to be a successful teacher in an otherwise challenging educational environment. At this time I received lots of training that was clearly designed by recent practitioners in an urban setting, which made for a very clear link between what I was being asked to do and what my students needed. I worked with a lot of really great, really dedicated, really talented teachers.
Cons
SOME HISTORY I worked at Mastery for 7 years as a teacher. Shortly after 2010 Mastery's primary mission became growth. They expanded at a lighting fast pace and each year for several years in a row they were adding 3,4 or 5 new schools each year. Then came the changes. Mastery's driving focus was shifted away from policies and procedures that actually work and moved toward initiatives which make for outstanding PR, rhetoric and sound bites but are simply unsuccessful in an urban educational environment. Eventually these changes were expanded and became codified in what became known as "Mastery 3.0". In one year I watched my school go from a remarkably peaceful sanctuary, in an otherwise often violent city, to a place where students were beaten into bloody pulps, teachers were attacked with knives, there were multiple fights per week in classrooms and hallways and all the while students who only one year earlier would have been held accountable were invited back into classrooms with seemingly no meaningful consequences. As a result the violence continued, classrooms became increasingly chaotic, it was open season for students who wanted to curse at teachers or just generally behave like fools. All the while leadership smiled and talked calmly about the benefits of the new "Mastery 3.0" vision. WORK-LIFE BALANCE It is not an exaggeration to say that I was working between 50 -70 hours a week spread out over five years. I could often be found in my classroom after 8pm scurrying to be 100% ready for the next day. Working hard is not a bad thing, my issue with Mastery is that after a 70 hour work week I never felt anything other than behind. I was never praised in a meaningful way for my dedication and the general vibe was "you have to do whatever it takes". THE STUDENTS This is the hardest subject to write about. There are some AMAZING students at Mastery. Some of these kids will keep you up at night trying to figure out what you can do to help them. There are also kids who bring so much negative baggage to school with them that they can destroy a lesson, an entire group of students, or even an entire school. The issue about students is really about Mastery's leadership. Before 3.0 Mastery put into place policies and procedures which tipped the balance of power in favor of the adults, under 3.0 that balance has gone the other way and the results are not pretty. UPPER LEADERSHIP The leadership which runs Mastery is very centralized. All decisions are formed, debated, and decided at a very high level. These decisions are then pushed down to the school leadership teams to implement with their teachers. Many decisions are made for the good of Mastery as an institution and not for the good of the students (although every decision made by Mastery's leadership is carefully couched in student centered language - don't be fooled). SCHOOL LEADERSHIP The principal and assistant principals are essentially middle managers. They have some power to run their school's as they like, but they are also beholden to their bosses. As a result, the school leaders are often playing political games at the expense of teachers and students. Also, while teachers are under an extraordinary amount of scrutiny and micromanagement, once someone gets into leadership they have much more leeway to be less than perfect and still maintain their job. SALARY Mastery uses a performance based pay system. If you are a good teacher you can make more money than you normally would in a relatively short amount of time. Assuming you are a solid teacher, one of the following paths will happen for you: 1) You are not only a great teacher, but you are also 100% committed to Mastery as an institution and you successfully play the right political cards. If this is you, then you can expect to go through the salary scale relatively quickly and then be plucked for a leadership position. These folks account for approximately 5% of teachers. 2) You will move somewhere between 50-75% of the way up the pay-scale in a few quick years. Then, you will plateau. You have great test scores, you are involved in numerous extra-curricular activities, you are a team player and you are all around great at your job. But, you have not shown that you are 100% Mastery in the marrow of your bones. You will now earn a new extra grand each year, but your rise to the top has essentially come to an end. CONCLUSION There is so much I am not including. After giving up my life to this institution for many years I have left feeling nothing but bitter, frustrated and angry at how the leadership has ruined a once great school, the way that teachers are treated like robots, and for allowing Mastery to suck the joy out of a career that should be filled with enjoyment. Save yourself the heartache and work somewhere else.
