Earning Your Certification

During your first year in the classroom, you must continue coursework toward certification through TNTP Academy,  a national network of teacher preparation programs dedicated to training excellent teachers for disadvantaged students. First launched as the “Practitioner Teacher Program” by TNTP in 2001, TNTP Academy now prepares new teachers for licensure in 7 states and the District of Columbia. It is among the first teacher preparation programs in the country to require all teachers to demonstrate their effectiveness in the classroom in order to be recommended for state certification.

A Rigorous, Classroom-Centered Curriculum

After completing our intensive summer Pre-service Training, you will enroll in TNTP Academy and attend bi-weekly evening seminars throughout your first year in the classroom. These seminars are led by outstanding district teachers and educational leaders with a track record of raising student achievement.

TNTP Academy is specifically designed to prepare new teachers without a formal education background for the rigors of high-need classrooms. The training you receive builds on the deep content knowledge you already possess by preparing you with the practical skills and strategies needed to be a successful teacher.

The heart of TNTP Academy is the unique Teaching for Results curriculum, which uses approaches proven to improve outcomes in high-need schools where students often lag several grade levels behind. The rigorous curriculum focuses on three core areas of teacher proficiency: content, assessment and instruction. It is immediately relevant to your work in the classroom, so you can apply what they learn in the evening with your students the very next day.

You will also be observed regularly and receive personalized support to help you develop the skills you need to raise student achievement. At the end of your first year, if you meet all program requirements and demonstrate that you are effective as a new teacher, you will be eligible to advance to a Tennessee Apprentice License.

Raising the Standard for New Teacher Certification

You chose to pursue a teaching career with the ambition of making a real difference for high-need students. TNTP Academy aims to guarantee that all of its graduates achieve that goal by setting a high standard for certification.

Throughout your first year, you can count on receiving meaningful feedback and timely, practical support to address your development needs. At the end of the year, your performance will be assessed based on actual classroom results. This assessment will incorporate multiple measures—including principal evaluations and successful completion of all program requirements—but student academic progress will be given the greatest weight. Only teachers who are at least as effective as the average new teacher in Metro Nashville Public Schools will be recommended for certification.

While this is a high bar, we are confident that TNTP Academy’s rigorous training and personalized support will help most of you to reach it. And once you earn certification through TNTP Academy, principals and district officials will know that you are not simply a certified teacher, but one with a proven track record of getting results.

Prepared Teachers. Powerful Results.

Over the past decade, nearly 3,000 teachers have been certified through TNTP Academy, and these teachers are getting results.

For four consecutive years, a state-sponsored study of traditional schools of education and alternative teacher-preparation pathways in Louisiana has found that TNTP Academy-trained teachers outperform even experienced teachers in raising student achievement in several core subjects. In 2011, TNTP Academy-trained teachers outperformed new and experienced teachers in math, English language arts and science, while equaling or outperforming other new teachers in social studies in reading. And for the past two years, TNTP Academy-trained math teachers achieved a positive impact on student learning that may even outweigh the disadvantages of poverty.

Program Costs and Financial Assistance

Tuition and fees at TNTP Academy during the 2012-13 school year are about $5,500. You are responsible for all of these costs, but payment plans are available.