Elevate K-12 Review Summary

Elevate K-12 provides virtual teaching to American school children by hiring experienced and certified teachers who have graduated from US universities. The pay is $22-50 depending on the subject, with an extra 20% paid admin time, materials are provided, though the hours are weekdays part-time (5-25 hours a week).

Elevate K-12 Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Good pay rate compared to other online companies
• Additional 20% paid for administrative time
• Paid training
• All lesson plans, learning materials, training and curriculum are provided
• Support available from academic coaches and teaching assistants (classroom coaches)

Cons:

• Pay still less than a regular teacher salary
• No pay for cancelled classes
• Part-time independent contractor position, so lacking employee benefits
• Primarily part-time, with a maximum of 25 hours a week

Is Elevate K-12 Legit?

Elevate K-12 is an education company offering online teaching support for US school students in Kindergarten up to Grade 12. The company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, providing certified teachers who are live-streamed into classrooms to teach a standardized curriculum. Elevate K-12 has contributed to an average 20%+ increase in test scores for school districts that have worked with them across the USA. 

Elevate K-12’s legitimacy is underlined by partnering with major educational institutions such as Carnegie Learning and the University of Phoenix, being featured on Bloomberg Businessweek and ABCNews, and in 2022 it closed a $40 million funding round led by venture capital firm General Catalyst. It currently has around 2,000 virtual teachers who have delivered more than 6 million hours of live instruction to over 120,000 students and 200 partner schools across 15+ states.

These videos show what Elevate K-12 online teaching is like:

Elevate K-12 Salary Information

The Elevate K-12 pay rate for a virtual teacher is between US$22-$50 an hour, depending on the subject being taught, though this provides an extra 20% to cover administrative time, plus bonuses:

There is no financial compensation for cancelled classes.

The Elevate K-12 teacher salary is issued once a month via bank transfer.

As virtual teachers are independent contractors, not employees, there are no additional Elevate K-12 benefits for this role.

Elevate K-12 Hours

Elevate K-12 offers hours between 8am-5pm (Eastern Standard Time), Monday to Friday. The exact hours you work within this will depend upon the position applied for, though you will have to be available to teach in 3-hour blocks.

A part-time schedule with Elevate K-12 requires a commitment of 5-25 hours a week.

Elevate K-12 Requirements

To apply for Elevate K-12 remote jobs as a virtual teacher, you must meet the following requirements:

• Availability of 3+ hour block consistently Monday-Friday between the hours stated
• Part-time schedule of 5-25 hours per week
• Laptop/desktop with internet connection
• A Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university or college in the United States
• Active teaching certificate in the subject
• Past experience working with students at the middle or high school level
• An engaging personality
• Passion for helping K-12 students

Content writer and proofreader positions are also sometimes available for those with more extensive teaching experience.

Elevate K-12 Hiring Process

You can search and apply for current vacancies on the Elevate K-12 careers page or the company’s company’s LinkedIn profile.

Once you select a position, click ‘Apply Now’ and complete the Elevate K-12 application form with the following details:

• First name
• Last name
• Email address
• Phone number
• Location (city)
• Resume/CV
• Cover letter
• Are you legally authorized to work in the United States?
• How did you hear about this job?
• If you have an Employee/Teacher Referral, list their name.
• Do you have an active teaching certificate from one of the United States? It cannot be suspended or revoked.
• What content/grade level are you certified to teach?
• Upload a copy of all of your teaching certificate(s).
• Do you have the required availability of 3+ hours block daily Monday-Friday between the stated hours?
• What is your availability Monday-Friday? You will need a 3+ hour block of availability daily between said hours to be considered.
• Are you available to start in [provisional starting date]? This does not guarantee a start date.
• Have you reviewed the compensation and part-time contracting information listed in the job description?
• Are you a military spouse? (Elevate K-12 are a MSEP partner)
• LinkedIn Profile (optional)

Elevate K-12 Interview Process

Those applicants who pass the initial screening will receive an invitation to attend a virtual webinar ahead of scheduling their Elevate K-12 interview. Some subjects require a competency test as well.

The main part of the interview is a teaching demonstration lasting 10-15 minutes, for which the topic and slides are provided. The interviewer will give you feedback on your demo and ask Elevate K-12 interview questions, which have previously included:

• Tell me about yourself?
• What are your certifications? Do you have a teaching certification?
• Why do you want to teach online?
• Why would you like to work with Elevate K12?
• Tell me about your experience teaching [subject].
• What is your experience teaching in a virtual classroom?
• Are you passionate about education?
• Give a positive/negative for tutoring? How can it be a positive experience? What can be negative?
• How would you engage students that appeared bored?
• How would you engage multiple students in a group online?
• If you have multiple children you are tutoring and one is distracting and losing focus, what would you do?
• Have students misbehaved in your class? How did you handle them?
• Explain [concept] using a real life example.
• After watching the Elevate K-12 platform video, what would you have done differently in this lesson with the tools available to you in the online platform?
• What times are you available?

Those who successfully pass the Elevate K-12 interview process have to complete 2 hours of paid online training in how to use the company’s platform and curriculum, before they start teaching.

Elevate K-12 Reviews

The Elevate K-12 Glassdoor page gives the company an overall rating of 4 out of 5, with 73% willing to recommend them, while the Elevate K-12 Indeed rating is 3.8 out of 5. Here is a summary of the most-common Glassdoor comments and the featured review on Indeed:

Positive Elevate K-12 teacher reviews on both platforms mention the flexibility of the schedule, allowing work-life balance and ease of work from the comfort of one’s home. Also, there is mention of how it is easier to teach since the lesson plans are already prepared for you. Elevate K-12 offers technical support and academic coaches to continue to help teachers in their practice, which teachers found extremely helpful. 

Some teachers gave negative Elevate K-12 job reviews due to schedule inconsistency and cancellation of classes, resulting in no pay. Also, some consider the pay rates low for the certifications that the company requires (though they are competitive for those used to online ESL jobs). Some teachers would like to add additional content to their lessons, but the platform does not allow for the uploading or sharing of external materials. 

Conclusion – Is Elevate K-12 Worth It?

Elevate K-12 offers one of the more competitive pay rates for online teaching, and while it is still less than a regular teacher’s salary and does not carry employee benefits, it does provide remote flexibility instead. The extra 20% paid for administrative time is a nice extra you will rarely find teaching online, though you have to be a state-certified teacher to apply, and part-time hours during weekdays will not suit or be sufficient for everyone.

You can apply for Elevate K-12 jobs here.

A full list of online teaching companies can be found here.