Pros
Fast-track teacher certification for degrees outside of Education. Recognition as a licensed teacher and eligible for full-time salary with benefits. Yearlong virtual and classroom coaching. Online coursework to develop teaching skills. You build a strong network with your cohort peers and training staff. It is a tough, rigorous program, but one can make it work if truly called to the teaching profession. When reading posts that complain about the money that TNTP gets from school districts and charging Teaching Fellows tuition, consider this: Teaching Fellows who successfully complete the 6-week summer training (PST or Pre-Service Training) receive an Alternative License which allows us to teach. This is at no cost to you. It's true that many people relocate and are responsible for living expenses during PST, but that's the choice we make if we want to become teachers. Academy coursework and in-person seminars begin in the fall and tuition is assessed for this portion. The State Department of Education requires student teaching and specific coursework in order to have the Alternative license upgraded to a Standard license in the future. Most people who come through this program do not have degrees in teacher education and if you take courses at a local college, it will cost more than TNTP's tuition.
Cons
You only receive 6 weeks training before being placed in your own classroom. PST is very fast-paced and focused on classroom management. The latter is helpful, but not always. They told us that "Teach Like a Champion" (TLaC) techniques were likely to work on 90% of students. I was hired at a school where most of the students represented the other 10%. I had to work a lot harder to bring my classroom to order, but over time the techniques were helpful. TNTP has a lot of rules, but they are not always enforced (see below).
