Teach For America was founded in 1990 by Wendy Kopp, author of One Day, All Children (Public Affairs, 2001). More than 12,000 -achieving college graduates have gone through Teach For America’s teacher-training program, directly impacting the lives of more than 1.75 million students. After two years in the classroom, more than 60 % of Teach For America alumni remain in education as teachers, principals, school founders, and policy advisors. TFA recruits from colleges and universities in all 50 states, looking for the best and brightest graduates. In 2003–04, the profile for the 3,100 corps members was: average GPA of 3.5, 92% held leadership roles in college, 37% are people of color, and all are young and energetic, with a mission to light fires in their students—teaching with commitment in 22 low-income communities across the country.

Teach For America (National Office)

315 West 36th Street

New York, NY 10018

Telephone: (800) 832-1230; (212) 279-2080

FAX: (212) 279-2081

http://www.teachforamerica.org

Wendy Kopp, Teach For America 

“Senior year at Princeton brought a fresh urgency to Wendy Kopp’s thoughts about her future. The year was 1988 and Wendy was part of what the world had dubbed “a selfish generation.” Yet she found herself and her peers, searching for a way to make a real difference in the world. Hers was the age-old question that often haunts young adults: "What am I going to do with the rest of my life?"

While working on her thesis for a senior paper, Wendy happened upon an idea that would put her in the middle of an incredible movement. “The dream was that every child growing up in this nation would have access to a high-quality education,” she reflects. Her concept was to create a corps of top-notch, recent college graduates who would commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools in low-income areas. Called Teach For America, this corps would mobilize some of the most passionate, dedicated members of her generation to change the fact that where a child is born in the United States largely determines his or her chances in life. Wendy’s teacher at Princeton gave her thesis an A…”