Overview
Reviews help families make informed decisions about classes and give educators valuable feedback about their teaching. While receiving feedback can sometimes be challenging, reviews are an opportunity to understand families' experiences, highlight your strengths, and identify ways to improve.
Educators can respond to reviews publicly or communicate privately with families to better understand their feedback.
Responding to Reviews
If you receive a review, you have several options for responding.
Public Responses
You can post a public response to a written review to thank the family, address feedback, or provide additional context about the class.
When responding publicly, we encourage you to:
Keep your response professional, respectful, and constructive.
Acknowledge the family's experience, even if you disagree with their perspective.
Provide relevant context without dismissing or criticizing the family.
Avoid sharing private information about the family or learner.
Public responses give prospective families an opportunity to understand your perspective and how you approach feedback.
Private Messages
You may also send a parent a private message to better understand their experience or address a concern.
If a family indicates that their concern has been resolved or their opinion has changed, you may politely ask whether they would consider updating their review.
However, families are never obligated to change or remove a review, and educators must not pressure or incentivize them to do so.
Review Integrity
To maintain a trustworthy review system, educators may not attempt to influence or manipulate reviews.
This includes:
Offering refunds, discounts, free classes, or other incentives in exchange for positive or changed reviews.
Enrolling friends or family members to leave reviews.
Removing learners from classes to prevent future reviews.
Pressuring parents to change or remove their reviews.
Educators may ask respectful questions about a family's experience, but any communication about reviews must remain professional and free from pressure.
Attempts to manipulate the review system may result in account restrictions or removal from Outschool.
Getting the Most Out of Reviews
Reviews can provide useful insights into what families value and how your classes are experienced.
We encourage educators to:
Read feedback objectively and consider constructive comments.
Review class recordings when appropriate.
Identify opportunities to improve future classes.
Consider whether class descriptions accurately communicate what families can expect.
Remember that not every class will be the right fit for every learner.
Even when you disagree with a review, a thoughtful and professional response can help prospective families better understand your teaching approach.
Disagreeing With a Review
Families may have different opinions about teaching styles, pacing, communication, and their overall classroom experience.
Outschool generally allows reviews reflecting a family's experience to remain, even when an educator disagrees with the feedback. If you disagree with a review, we encourage you to consider a public response that provides additional context.
In limited circumstances, a review may be eligible for removal or editing under Outschool's review policy.
For more information about eligibility and the dispute process, see Class Review Removal and Dispute Policy.