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" I think Teach for America has suffered from the fact that I did not teach, in a major way. I also think if I had taught, I wouldn't have started Teach for America. "

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" 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

Faith

Parents

Children

" 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. "

" All around the world, we send our top talent into finance, technology, medicine and law - everywhere but towards expanding opportunity for our most marginalized children. "

" Countries have largely been left alone to handle or ignore their educational problems as they see fit. In part, this was because we assumed that the contexts and challenges were so different from nation to nation that education could not be tackled at the international level. "

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

Wendy Kopp

Teachers

Great

" Fostering the leadership necessary for transformational outcomes in education is hard work, and in countries around the world, there is a constant search for easier solutions. "

" Persistent inequality costs the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars a year, undermining our global competitiveness, our democracy, and our ideals as a nation. "

" Charter laws do something really important. They give educators the freedom and flexibility that they need to attain results. But we also have to invest a lot in the leadership pipeline to take advantage of that freedom and flexibility. "

" We're looking for people out there who have demonstrated that they are leaders, have track records of achievement, and want to be part of a force... of a much larger force of determined people who want to bring about, ultimately, institutional change. "

" Teach For America was built on the idea that our best hope of reaching 'One Day' is to have thousands of alumni use their diverse experiences and ideas to effect change from inside and outside the education system. "

" 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

Live

Problem

" 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. "

" We look for people who demonstrate perseverance in the face of challenges, the ability to influence and motivate others - people who want to work relentlessly to ensure that kids who are facing the challenges of poverty have an excellent education. "

" 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. "

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

Wendy Kopp

Week

Talk

" As a senior at Princeton, I felt like the whole world was open to me. In our country, that's not a given. We aspire to be a place of equal opportunity, and yet where you're born determines your prospects. "

Wendy Kopp

World

Born

" 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. "

Wendy Kopp

Money

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

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

" We are working essentially to build a leadership force of folks who will, during their first two years of teaching, actually put their kids on a different trajectory - not just survive as a new teacher, but actually help close the achievement gap for their kids. "

" 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. "

" People think of teachers who are born to teach, and you think of all these charismatic folks. Some of the most successful teachers are some of the least charismatic, interestingly. But they have a gift of figuring out what motivates people. "

" Common Core reminds us what testing can do right. Modeled on standards of the world's education superpowers, questions demand critical thinking and creativity. Students are asked to write at length, show their work, and explain their reasoning. "

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

" Education is the gateway to the American Dream. But today our immigration laws make higher education - a virtual requirement for financial security - out of reach for more than one million undocumented students. "

" I usually don't really have breakfast. "

Wendy Kopp

Really

Breakfast

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

" When I started Teach For America, I wasn't trying to come up with an idea that would change the world. I was trying to solve a problem much closer to home: I was a senior in college, and I had no idea what I was going to do with my life! "

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

" 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. "