Quotes from Wendy Kopp

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

On average, our corps members stay in the classroom for eight years. But again, given the systemic nature of educational inequity, we know it is vital that some of our alumni take their experience outside the classroom.

While I started out with a vague understanding that diversity would be important, my own observations have led me to realize that achieving greater levels of diversity is in fact vital to our long-term success.

It's Teach For America's responsibility to ensure that all alumni know their voices are heard and valued, and to surface the range of opinion they represent.

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.

There is a perception in our communities that we have low educational outcomes in low-income communities because kids aren't motivated or families don't care. We've discovered that is not the case.

I usually don't really have 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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

I'll get up at 5 or 6. I try to catch up on sleep on the weekends, so I'll try to get seven hours of sleep. During the week, my ideal is to go to bed at 9 and wake up six hours later.

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

If the world's leaders are serious about improving collective well-being, we'd better get serious about prioritizing education in our nations and in our global discussion.

Teach For America would not be able to continue recruiting and developing an ever-more diverse and impactful group of corps members and alumni if the nation's leading colleges become even less diverse.

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

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.