Pros
There are a lot of talented people who genuinely care about the work they do - every day, they come in and work to make the everyday lives of teachers and students easier. That is the core of what Renaissance is. It's also been really nice being able to work from home even after COVID restrictions were lifted (though the equipment provided leaves much to be desired - I ended up buying my own).
Cons
Over the past few years, there's been a lot of emphasis on the 'growth mindset' - but it's felt more like growing pains. They just kept acquiring company after company without giving internal teams a chance to breathe and integrate properly. What resulted was a series of dysfunctional, patchwork groups in which work overlapped and became redundant for years. Toward the end of my time there, I had learned that we had THREE internal LMS systems in place... and no one could articulate why. This came at a time when leadership was continually hinting at market problems, and Town Halls were a series of "shout-outs" to cover up the bad numbers on the slides. We had just gone through two rounds of layoffs, and a director just approved the purchase of another LMS system?! Just because they didn't like the versions we already had? Unfortunately, I was a victim of the fourth round of layoffs in 2025, but honestly, I think it was for the best. On the surface, Renaissance is great at projecting a polished, well-oiled machine. On the inside, however, things are moving backwards. Money is mismanaged, communication is nonexistent, and powerful data management tools are being cut in favor of poorly put-together spreadsheets handled by people who can't write a simple formula. I've been warning people to stay away long before I saw that 15-minute HR meeting on my calendar.