When I started Teach For America as a college senior, I sensed that there were thousands of talented, driven college students and recent grads who were searching for a way to make a real difference in the world. – Wendy Kopp
As a white woman with a privileged education, I’m keenly aware that I founded an organization that can only realize its goal if it enlists many more leaders who share the backgrounds of the students and families we work with. – Wendy Kopp
Our teachers are operating just as effective leaders in the business world do. They set a vision that most people think is crazy. They convince the kids why it’s important to accomplish the goal. And they are totally relentless. – Wendy Kopp
Technology has enormous potential to address educational needs more efficiently, help teachers improve their performance, and enrich and individualize student learning. – Wendy Kopp
Mindsets, skills and leadership, experience and access, and critical consciousness – we need all four of these things for our students to be the leaders, people and citizens we want them to be. – Wendy Kopp
Across the globe, disadvantaged children are not living up to their potential because if they attend school at all, the schools are usually not designed to meet their extra needs. – Wendy Kopp
Education must be the only sector that hasn’t already been completely revolutionized by technology. – Wendy Kopp
Throughout history, when societies have been faced with big challenges, they’ve put their best people on them. During the Space Race, American and Russian scientists, engineers, astronauts and cosmonauts pushed the bounds of what was possible and landed men on the moon. – Wendy Kopp
The U.S. has a long history of walking up to the precipice of rigor and then walking away. As voters, let’s support leaders who were courageous enough to make the hard decisions necessary to move our system forward. And as parents, let’s put our faith in our educators, our children and tests that hold them to their highest potential. – Wendy Kopp
I’ve heard a number of our alumni – people who are running schools and school systems – think a lot about different models for the teaching profession. – Wendy Kopp
We have found that the most successful teachers in low-income communities operate like successful leaders. They establish a vision of where their students will be performing at the end of the year that many believe to be unrealistic. – Wendy Kopp
The lack of diversity in higher education is a problem we as a country must tackle if we’re going to live up to our promise. – Wendy Kopp
Teach for America recruits top recent college grads, young professionals, people we believe are the U.S.’s most promising future leaders, and asks them to commit two years to teach in high-need urban and rural communities. – Wendy Kopp
We collaborate with other countries on issues like public health and climate change because we understand these issues affect our collective welfare. – Wendy Kopp
When kids are met with the highest expectations and given the extra supports they need, they can be as motivated as kids anywhere. – Wendy Kopp
When you think of the typical Teach For America corps member, soldiers and ex-bankers are probably not the people who come to mind. In fact, there is no such thing as a typical corps member. They can’t be neatly pigeonholed or painted with a broad brush. – Wendy Kopp
The teachers are trying to build the same culture in the classroom as we’re building in the organization. – Wendy Kopp
We go around and talk about what are each of the kids most proud of from the previous week. – Wendy Kopp
We’re not trying to be the only route into teaching. We do put enormous energy into understanding what differentiates the most successful teachers. – Wendy Kopp
Research shows that whether you are low-income or not, mindset is a bigger predictor of success than academic skills, and how students gain great academic skills and persevere in the face of challenges. – Wendy Kopp
In a society that glorifies the pioneers, it’s easy to think that an endeavor is only worth pursuing if you can be the first to pursue it. – Wendy Kopp
Whenever we’ve seen the kids in the most disadvantaged context truly excel, always it’s been in classrooms and in whole schools where there is a clear vision of where the kids have the potential to be. – Wendy Kopp
We believe strongly in transparency and accountability, which is why Teach For America encourages rigorous independent evaluations of our program. Our mission is too important to operate in any other way. – Wendy Kopp
In every case where I’ve seen a transformational school, there’s a principal who really has the foundational experience of having taught successfully. – Wendy Kopp
Effective teacher support in my mind is the same thing as effective management. Our teachers need strong management, just like anyone in any profession. – Wendy Kopp
There’s no how-to guide for how to change the world. But it’s easy to get hung up by misconceptions about what it takes to make an impact. – Wendy Kopp
A core part of Teach For America’s mission has always been affecting positive change in the traditional public school system. – Wendy Kopp
