Pros
There are teams and individuals working for this organization that perform their jobs because they truly believe they’re doing what’s right for kids. The experience gained from working with the org will prepare you for a life after TNTP that is more successful and productive than any day before. There are people in the Talent and Culture department who are supportive, helpful, and are looking out for the best interests of e,ployees at all levels.
Cons
The feeling of job security that one would expect from performing at a high level and meeting proported expectations of ones manager are routinely robbed from hard working team members when it benefits their inadequate managers, and their are plenty of inadequate managers. Leaders at all levels are regularly unprofessional, and actively look for ways to shift blame to mismanaged staff members, or write glowing reports for well connected staff members. Depending upon who needs you out or who wants someone they can overwork for extended periods of time to get a job done at the lowest dollar (eg staff are regularly asked to complete work above their level of compensation to prove they’re worth the promotion, sometimes without ever being promoted) managers will ignore poor performance and punish whistleblowers. The contract multiple contract and matrix management systems encourage competition amongst leaders that makes TNTP an increasingly self-serving enitiy that has shown only marginal gains for students and a lot of headaches for districts. That would be fine if that resulted in positive financial gains or increased stability in their market share, but if you know anyone connected with the organization right now, you know that is not the case. The culture of inclusiveness that is touted is a gimmick. For certain groups working for TNTP, it is as bad or worse than ny private organization whose staff overwhelmingly comprises one demographic (and in education, it doesn’t take too many guesses to know which demo it is.)
