Wendy Kopp

Wendy Kopp

Founder and Chair, Teach for America

Wendy Kopp proposed the creation of Teach For America in her undergraduate senior thesis in 1989 and has spent the last 19 years working to sustain and grow the organization. In the 2008-2009 school year, more than 6,200 corps members are teaching in our country's neediest communities, reaching approximately 400,000 students. They join more than 14,000 Teach For America alumni who—still in their 20s and 30s—are already assuming significant leadership roles in education and social reform. Under Kopp's leadership, Teach For America is in the midst of an effort to grow to scale while maximizing the impact of corps members and alumni as a force for short- and long-term change. Kopp also serves as the chief executive of Teach For All, which is supporting the development of Teach For America's model in other countries. She is the author of One Day, All Children: The Unlikely Triumph of Teach For America and What I Learned Along the Way, and holds a bachelor's degree from Princeton University, where she participated in the undergraduate program of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

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Wendy Kopp, the CEO and co-founder of Teach For All, and the founder and chair of Teach For America, says that classrooms need to use data to help students achieve […]
4 min
Teach for America Founder Wendy Kopp on the future of schools.
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Teach For America founder Wendy Kopp insists education will be the long-term solution to dealing with economic downturn.
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Teach For America founder Wendy Kopp discusses the importance of Teach For America’s active alumni network.
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The founder of Teach For America talks about the importance of local leadership for implementing government directives.
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The Founder of Teach For America on the state of education in the US.
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The founder of Teach For America talks about the importance of building allies.