Best Brains Review Summary

Best Brains learning centers tutor groups of 1-5 children aged 3-14 years. They hire experienced graders and teachers from the US and Canada, paying $8.31-$30/hr depending on location and position. Certifications/degrees are not always required. Hours are mostly after school part-time, but remote positions are fewer.

Best Brains Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Simple application and interview process
• Curriculum provided
• Part-time after-school hours will suit most existing teachers
• Degrees/certifications not always mandatory requirements (depending on franchise and position)
• Grading is relatively easy work

Cons:

• Low pay for Graders
• Grading can be monotonous
• Fewer remote/hybrid jobs
• Set time slots limits flexibility
• Management will differ across franchises/locations
• Not suitable for those who dislike teaching younger children or prefer adult students

Is Best Brains Legit?

Best Brains is a legitimate American tutoring company that was founded in 2011 by Anil Uppalapati. It has since helped tens of thousands of children, expanding to over 130 Best Brains franchises in the USA and Canada, and its legitimacy is reinforced by being ranked 87th in Entrepreneur’s Top Franchises (under $50K).

Below is a video introduction to the company:

What Is Best Brains Tutoring?

Best Brains online learning is delivered via Zoom, while in-person tutoring is facilitated through the company’s learning centers located across the United States and Canada. Teachers are expected to ‘work one-on-one with students in small groups‘ of up to 5 children, which requires some balancing.

Best Brains e-learning programs cover the following subjects:

• Math – combines computational and non-computational concepts to strengthen understanding and improve performance in the child’s regular math education.
• English – covers all 5 components of language arts: reading comprehension, grammar, spelling, vocabulary and writing.
• Coding – teachers lead students through weekly modules in this homework-free program designed to strengthen logic, encourage creativity, and increase computer literacy.
• Public Speaking – Weekly assignments bring students out of their shell and help find their unique voice, to speak confidently, articulately, and with purpose.
• Test Prep – various Test Prep programs (ACT/SAT, CoGAT, STAAR) help students master test content and practice test-taking strategies to help them tackle standardized tests.

The in-person Best Brains after school program additionally offers Abacus (aged 7+), Creative Writing, Science Lab, General Knowledge, and Pre-K Math and English.

Best Brains breaks their curriculum down into individual concepts that are taught each week. Periodic tests are used to track progress, while teachers email personalized feedback to parents following each session detailing the child’s progress and areas of improvement along with motivational comments.

Below is another video showing what goes on within a Best Brains learning center:

What Ages Is Best Brains For?

Best Brains caters to children between the ages of 3-14 years, though its Abacus program starts at age 7+.

How Much Does Best Brains Pay?

The Best Brains salary rates offered vary across different franchises and roles. A Best Brains Teacher Salary can range between US$15-$30 an hour, while a Best Brains Grader Salary can be as low as $8.31 or $10 per hour.

Payments are issued monthly.

Best Brains Hours and Schedule

Some Best Brains Learning Centers are more flexible than others when it comes to the part-time shifts they want their tutors to work.

Times change slightly depending on the franchise and location, but Best Brains homework help and tutoring usually starts on weekdays between 4:15-4:45pm before ending at 7:15-7:50pm, while Saturdays can begin from 9-9:30am and finish by 12-12:45pm.

Outside of these peak hours, early childhood teaching is also delivered during the daytime (e.g. 8:30am-12 and 12.30-4pm on weekdays).

While there is little lesson planning as the curriculum is provided, personalized feedback does have to be written up after each class, with most students attending one class per week.

Best Brains Requirements

Some Best Brains Learning Centers require a State Teaching Certificate and/or Bachelor’s degree (or be currently enrolled), while for others these are only preferred requirements alongside CPR and Child Development Associate certification.

Best Brains applicants should also possess:

• Experience in tutoring or teaching, and be comfortable providing small group tutoring sessions
• Strong communication skills, able to provide feedback and communicate with the Director and parents about students’ progress
• A passion for child education
• The ability to:
  • Facilitate learning as a guide and coach to assist the student in becoming successful self-directed learners
  • Empower students towards attainment of academic goals by helping them develop skills in planning, decision-making, and self-directing
  • Encourage students to develop effective learning, studying, and test-taking strategies that will serve them throughout their academic careers
  • Maintain accurate records of student attendance, participation, progress, and feedback

Best Brains Hiring Process

The Best Brains careers page provides an application form at the bottom for you to submit these details:

• Zip/Postal code
• Location
• First Name
• Last Name
• Email Address
• Phone Number
• Physical Address
• Attached CV/Resume
• Describe your experience in education.
• Describe your experience working with children.
• Why do you want to work for Best Brains?

Best Brains tutoring jobs are also advertised periodically through SimplyHired and Indeed.

The Best Brains interview itself is fairly relaxed and conversational, with questions such as:

• Tell me about yourself.
• Why do you want to work here? / Why do you want to work at Best Brains?
• Why are you choosing a teaching career?
• What are your credentials?
• What are your subject grades?
• What experience do you have in [insert subject]?
• What experience do you have in teaching kids? / What experience do you have working with children?
• What would you do to balance the different needs of the different children at different levels?
• What is your teaching philosophy?
• How would you handle a situation when a student was not paying attention?
• What days and hours are you available? / What is your availability and what are your plans for the future?
• When are you looking to start?

Some candidates will be hired on the spot, while others may have to wait a few days.

Best Brains Reviews – What Is It Like Working for Best Brains?

The Best Brains Glassdoor page currently provides an overall score of 4 out of 5, with 88% willing to recommend the company. I have compiled all tutor comments from Best Brains learning center reviews that have been left over the past year, with positive things said about the students, curriculum, and ‘easy money’ for grading, though this work pays less and is described as ‘tedious’ or ‘monotonous’, while teachers have the challenge of managing multiple children simultaneously, part-time hours may be ‘flexible’ for some but ‘awkward’ for others, and management behavior varies across franchises:

• Advantages:
  • “Flexible hours, good pay, good curriculum. No need for W2, this is just a contract job.
  • Timings are good. Easy job. Good work life balance.
  • Best Brain college is a place of academic impact.
  • The kids and staff are wonderful.
  • Stress free environment and after school hours schedule.
  • Really nice staff, treat everyone nicely.
  • Flexible, Great Part Time, Can Work Remote.
  • Working with students of all ages.
  • It’s a great place to work part-time at.
  • Best Brains was a good and easy way to spend your time after school tutoring children from K to 8.
  • It was a good experience for future careers in education.
  • The learning center has plenty of good kids who are perfectly respectful towards teachers and most teachers are understanding and sociable.
  • Easy money grading papers and such.
  • Ms. Nicole is great to work with. She trained me and ensured I had the tools needed to work with kids in this new environment. Being a teacher, I obviously know how to teach, but teaching at Best Brains is a little different since we have multiple kids learning at the same time. We also provide feedback during class. It was a great experience.
• Disadvantages:
  • It all depends on the individual business learning center. If the owner is understanding and experienced the teachers will be happy. If the teachers are good there will be more enrollment Advertising is necessary. After every semester.
  • Should classify their workers as W2. Too many kids at a time since every kid is one a different book/lesson for math/English.
  • Pay is less for graders.
  • Excellent analysing, incentive, adequate and sufficient helping hands to the less.
  • Hours are a bit awkward. Mid day three hour shift.
  • The pay can be more.
  • Could get monotonous & boring from time to time.
  • Not enough hours per day.
  • It could get tedious at times.
  • It can get tedious and boring at the workplace.
  • It is not as flexible.
  • Too much work on tutors on some days and excessive expectations upon new tutors often leading to some yelling from the manager and sometimes targeted responses for small mistakes. Further, the manager expects the tutors to teach 5 students at the same time within 1 hour for both English and Math making it difficult for both students and tutors to be capable of finishing all the work for the week.
  • Extremely monotonous work, will get boring soon.”

The Best Brains rating on Indeed is almost identical at present (4.1 out of 5), though from fewer contributions. Here is the featured review, which echoes sentiments about the job’s flexibility, good kids, management, colleagues and curriculum, though the pay could be improved:

For balance, here is the most-recent 1* review, which also complains about the pay, as well as having to cover higher-paid teachers and deal with difficult parents:

Conclusion – Is Best Brains Good for Online Teachers?

While Best Brains is fairly well-regarded and the application process is straightforward, it may not be the best option for online teachers. Grading work is easy but tedious and poorly paid, while teaching demands a tricky balance of providing ‘one-on-one’ tutoring to up to 5 children concurrently. Though you can apply for Best Brains jobs, fully remote or hybrid opportunities are more limited there, meaning you may wish to explore our list of other online teaching companies first.