Was Great and Might Be Again - Recensione dipendente - Teacher presso Commonwealth Academy

Small class sizes, fun working environment, great pay

No room for growth, frequent changes in staff including upper management

Commonwealth is a private school, so teachers have significantly greater freedom with regards to which format and subject matter they are allowed to teach, whereas public schools require teachers to stick to strict standards of learning in order to achieve the highest possible standardized test scores. The problem with having a main focus on standardized tests is that not all students are good test takers, but are extremely smart kids. They are often overlooked and fall behind in the public school system, Therefore, that is where Commonwealth comes in because the school as a whole, recognizes this fact and allows each student to shine at their level of expertise increasing their confidence and grades. Yes, students are assessed through quizzes and tests, but also are graded based upon fun projects, science experiments, creativity, class discussions, field trips into Washington D.C. followed by active class participation on assignments related to each trip. In addition, the administration sets up a great first week of team building skills for the students in order to get them acclimated with one another right off the bat and learn more interpersonal effectiveness skills as far as classroom discussions are concerned and to prepare them for the real world. The headmistress, Dr. Susan Johnson, is wonderful at her job. She always has a smile on her face and treats all of her employees equally with respect and dignity. She ensures that every student is happy and is learning all areas of each subject matter to their greatest ability through a wide variety of available resources. This school has in-school and after-school study hall in which students can take advantage of help from their teachers and peers to get most of their homework completed before going home so they can truly relax and unwind each night. Academics are not the only thing happening at Commonwealth. There are amazing activities planned in P.E. class daily as well as school clubs on Wednesdays that are included as part of the school day (at the end of the day) to give students a chance to unwind and enjoy some time together outside of the classroom environment. Overall, the faculty and staff work together as a team to ensure that the school continues to provide a fun and safe learning environment for all of the students. The classroom sizes are small in size to ensure that each student has a voice and is truly heard. The parents are also a large part of the community. There are annual auctions and fundraising events that they host which are a lot of fun!

There were some conflicts that occurred between the middle school teachers during meetings due to differences in teaching styles and opinions. This would not have happened if all meetings were properly supervised, but at times, they were not. There were a few bad apples in the bunch, but were mainly confined to the middle school sector. The Administration was wonderful as well as the faculty in the high school and lower school departments. Finally, the headmistress, Dr. Susan Johnson (who is also a psychologist), was phenomenal in helping with conflict resolution between any two faculty members or two students that happened to occur at certain times, which is typical in any workplace.