Forbes
Wendy Kopp is the CEO and Co-founder of Teach for All and the founder of Teach for America. Kopp was born in Austin, Texas in the year of 1967 to successful small business owners. After moving and settling their business in Dallas, Texas , Kopp attended Highland Park High School where she received her diploma. She then went on to become a graduate of Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. It was during her time at Princeton that Kopp was immersed in a student body that was very diversified in background. She noticed that the students who had come from low-income communities were naturally more unprepared than those who were afforded better educational opportunities. Knowing this, she became heavily involved with idea of creating equal academic opportunities in low-income areas and believed that more people would choose teaching as a profession if there were better teaching programs available. She harnessed this energy into launching a platform that would go on to help thousands of young minds reach their fullest potential and continue the fight against educational inequity.
RealLeaders
In 1989, Kopp used her senior thesis to propose a corps of teachers that would be specifically trained in teaching at-risk kids that we now know as Teach for America. Raising $2.5 million in start up funds and a small staff of 4, her outreach to college students to commit to two years of teaching for the program began. Since it’s first year in 1990, the program that is now in its 28th year includes 14,000 teachers; 3,700 school principals, assistant principals, and deans; more than 300 school system leaders and a host of other advocates and leaders that work to continue their cause in 51 regions across the nation. Kopp also launched a campaign called Teach for All in 2007, which applies the same principles of Teach for America but globally. After her 24 year stance of president for Teach for America she has stepped down,but still continues to the chair the board. She is now the CEO for Teach for All continuing to serve the public as an advocate for equal education opportunities.
The New York Times