Wendy Kopp Quotes

I think the way to understand Teach for America is as a leadership development program.

It gets to whether we're a teacher-education model or a movement for social justice. I would say we're about the latter.

Let the tech firms and consulting firms build your skills, but be sure to ask yourself, 'Am I maximizing my impact?' 'Am I living up to my values?'

Tests that sugar-coat the truth only set up our kids to fail in worse ways down the road.

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.

We're not trying to be the only route into teaching. We do put enormous energy into understanding what differentiates the most successful teachers.

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.

The idea that computers can ever replace teachers and schools reveals a deep lack of understanding about the role leadership plays in student success.

Where educational deprivation exists, it breeds conflict and enables repression.

Few things are more important to our country's future than recruiting and keeping great teachers in our schools.

When kids are met with the highest expectations and given the extra supports they need, they can be as motivated as kids anywhere.

Every time a child's promise is cut short by their legal status, our country wastes precious resources and loses talent we need.

School boards can be a steppingstone to higher forms of political leadership.

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.

It's possible to train great people, but a person with great training who doesn't have certain characteristics is only going to go so far.

Kids who live in low income areas face extra challenges and show up at schools that were not designed to meet their extra needs.

I'm happy to admit that I'm a hopeless optimist.

Teach For America is working hard to be one significant source of the leadership we need.

Our experience at Teach For America has been that the more people understand educational inequity, the more they want to do something about it.

I usually don't really have breakfast.

Inexperience is an asset. Embrace it.

We're trying to be the top employer of recent grads in the country. Size gives us leverage to have a tangible impact on school systems.

Ending educational inequality is going to require systemic change and a long-term, sustained effort. There are no shortcuts and no silver bullets.

A core part of Teach For America's mission has always been affecting positive change in the traditional public school system.

Education must be the only sector that hasn't already been completely revolutionized by technology.

Teach For China recruits top American and Chinese college graduates, like 26-year-old Yang Xiao, to teach in the country's most disadvantaged schools.

Our laws guarantee all students the right to a K-12 education, regardless of their immigration status.

We must broaden the definition of who our neighbors are, and extend the boundaries of our interest and empathy.

We collaborate with other countries on issues like public health and climate change because we understand these issues affect our collective welfare.

We go around and talk about what are each of the kids most proud of from the previous week.

We aspire to be equal opportunity, but all across the country where a student is born, their race, their class affect where they end up.

In every case where I've seen a transformational school, there's a principal who really has the foundational experience of having taught successfully.

People are everything in education, just as in the corporate world.

The teachers are trying to build the same culture in the classroom as we're building in the organization.

Dartmouth is such a special college with its rich history, dedicated student body, and, as I've been learning more recently, colorful customs.

I think people are attracted to teaching because they want to make a real impact.

If we freed up all the money in the certification process, think about how much more money we'd have to put into teacher salaries.