If you have an eye for quackery, as Peter Greene does, you will never run out of material in the world of reform tomfoolery.
In this post, Greene has fun with TNTP’s brilliant new way to identify better teachers: multiple-choice test. I kid you not.
TNTP used to be called The Néw Teacher Project. According to legend, it was founded by Michelle Rhee, although partisans of Wendy Kopp say it was her idea and she asked Michelle to do it. I really don’t know. Maybe someone who was there can let us in on the true story.
So Greene discovers that TNTP has this idea that a multiple-choice test can do what nano human can do. Identify a future talented teacher. He runs with it.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’m confused…I wish Peter had a better way with words and could truly express himself without leaving the reading dangling and guessing their way through his blog. So frustrating!
OK, just kiddin’! Love Peter’s refreshing, funny and to-the-point comments.
Must say, educators are a smart, clever, creative and resilient bunch. Poor Arne, dribbled 🏀 his entire life and can’t figure out why his dribble diplomacy is not working for educators.
Thanks Peter and Diane ‘for keeping the lights on for us’.
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I am a “proud” graduate of TNTP… Luckily before I got my probationary I had already taught in grad school and for 3 years as an ESL instructor abroad. I had, thus, 5 years teaching experience.
That said, I still struggled my first year as a 7th grade teacher at a Title One school. TNTP is just like TFA: they don’t teach a thing about classroom management. That said, I would venture to guess that TNTP has a larger amount that stay in the classroom. No one I knew viewed it as a stepping stone to go elsewhere. 5 years later the bulk of my course, who I have kept in touch with, still teach. I would say that we are all very dedicated. This is also probably due to the fact that for most of us we had already worked in other sectors for several years.
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As I said, I think the basic idea behind TNTP is workable, but the execution is wanting.
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With whom I kept in touch
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The public schools in my area use online applications exclusively. I’m not familiar with all of the criteria to getting a human being to look at your application, but I do know that you had better sprinkle the application with all the current buzzwords if you want to get past the computer filter. I would love to know all their exclusionary tactics; I think HR people are sworn to secrecy on pain of death.
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