Pros
Austin is a fantastic city in which to live. There are many schools, so locations can be selected close to one's preferred teaching area.
Cons
The administrators, perhaps well intentioned, are not very helpful or effective. The way in which administrators treat degreed professionals is completely out of line with anything I have encountered in the private sector. A great deal of school decisions take place in closed-door meetings without soliciting the input of teachers. Much of AISD seems to be about teaching to the TAKS test. Administrators seem only to really care about their schools passing the State test and, therefore, teach to the middle group of students. The very low-level students and the very high-level students are given little to no consideration so that the focus can be on the larger middle group of students who will pass the State test and give the schools an acceptable testing rating. Worksheets and outdated pedagogy are prevalent in classrooms. Often times, administrators with very little classroom experience are promoted to principal and vice principal positions. Many of them lack the skills needed to direct a campus filled with degreed professionals. The Administrators in the Central Office are uninspiring, lack imagination, and seem to be only concerned with sounding good and looking good when they interface with district employees. As a whole, they are quite unimpressive. Sadly, they possess very little creativity or inspiration. The few bright and inspiring administrators that I encountered did not seem to last long in the schools as they (rightfully) chose not to focus the massive amount of school resources and teacher efforts on worksheets and prepping students solely to pass a test. Sadly, in AISD the TAKS is the singular focus of schools; everything else takes a backseat while students drown in worksheets, test prep efforts, and ill-advised school administrators.
