Uncommon Schools Interview Questions
& Process

First, submit your resume. Then, you'll need to take the students' midterm in person. After that, you'll give a 15-minute lesson presentation to leadership from a unit you've pre-constructed. My lesson was filmed in an empty classroom and included a 'glow/grow' and 'redo' section. This part shows how you handle feedback.

The hiring process includes a phone screening, followed by live lessons with students and school leaders. After the lesson, there will be a debrief session. There might be another screening after that. Finally, an offer will be extended or declined. Most questions will focus on your lesson plans, so make sure to include state and national standards and use the 'I do, We do, You do' model. Student engagement strategies are also important.

They invited me for a multiple hour interview from 7am to 12pm. First, I observed a school wide morning meeting and then returned to a conference room to discuss my observations with the interview team. Second, I completed a 20 minute teaching demo in a classroom setting (they supply scripted lesson). Third, we got into the actual interview and interview questions for 1 hour. Fourth, I observed a classroom setting. Finally, I returned back to the conference room to ask my interview questions.

This was the single WORST interview experience I have ever had. They wasted my time, lied to me, and disrespected me every step of the way, for six weeks. First, the recruiter had no idea what she was talking about and told me the wrong location of the school twice (first Boston, then Canarsie; the school is actually in Crown Heights). Then, I was passed around between the recruiter, the superintendent, and the principal, none of whom seemed to be communicating with each other at all. The principal called me to tell me how excited he was to potentially work with me, then ignored my emails and calls for the next three weeks. The superintendent said she was going to make me an offer and asked me to provide my availability for a phone call. I provided it and was not contacted. She apologized and asked for my availability again. The same thing happened--I was not contacted. This occurred 4 more times over the next 8 days, with no explanation whatsoever. Finally, I was told they could not offer me the Dean position, but that they were going to offer me a fellowship position that was half teaching, half training to be Dean next year. I have a PhD in Comparative Literature, but she asked me if I wanted to teach a Math class. The next time I spoke to the superintendent, I was told that actually it was just going to be a teaching position for 10th grade English and maybe I could coach a few teachers too for extra money. After that, she told me that actually I would be teaching special ed (which I am not qualified to do). Over the phone, she told me the salary they would offer. The next day, the recruiter emailed me to say they would not be making me an offer at all. This organization is completely dysfunctional. If this is how negligently they treat their interviewees, I can only imagine how they treat their employees.