12 Education Activists for 2012

Ariela Rozman: The Operator

TNTP, which until recently was called The New Teacher Project, is arguably the most impactful education nonprofit of the last decade. Its devastating reports, which include deep dives into such arcane but vital topics as how few teachers ever receive a negative evaluation or the dysfunction of human-resource departments in urban school districts, have demonstrably changed national and state policy.

But TNTP isn’t just a think tank; the teacher-training programs it runs for multiple states and cities consistently outperform other options, including traditional colleges of education.

Rozman, as CEO, keeps the organization humming along. She’s a known commodity among insiders but far from a household name even in the education world. Other senior players at TNTP get the exposure, but they’re all quick to cite Rozman as a linchpin of TNTP’s effectiveness and impact.

With teacher policy again at the forefront in 2012 — as states struggle to implement the policy changes of the past few years — Rozman and TNTP will have their hands full.

Rotherham, a co-founder and partner at the nonprofit Bellwether Education, writes the blog Eduwonk. The views expressed are solely his own.