Wendy Kopp Quotes

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Wendy Kopp

Profession : Public Servant

Birth : June 29, 1967

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.

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

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.

Wendy Kopp

I usually don't really have breakfast.

Wendy Kopp

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

Wendy Kopp

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

Wendy Kopp

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.

Wendy Kopp

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

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.

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

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

I had been very focused on the issue of education disparities in our country, and literally, by the time kids are just nine years old, in low-income communities, they're already three or four grade levels behind nine-year-olds in high-income communities.

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

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.

Wendy Kopp

Imagine how different those classrooms could be if hundreds of Nigeria's most talented recent graduates and professionals channeled their energy not only into the country's banks, but into making education in the country a force for transformation.

Wendy Kopp

If we're going to see sustainable results from all the other investments we're making in education, we need to build leadership capacity in each and every country.

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

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

Wendy Kopp

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.

Wendy Kopp

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

Wendy Kopp