Wendy Sue Kopp (born June 29, 1967) is the CEO and co-founder of Teach For All, a global network of independent nonprofit organizations working to expand educational opportunity in their own countries and the Founder of Teach For America (TFA), a national teaching corps.
In 1989, Kopp proposed the creation of Teach For America in her 177-page long senior thesis titled "An Argument and Plan for the Creation of the Teachers Corps" which she completed under the supervision of Marvin Bressler.[1][2] She was convinced that many in her generation were searching for a way to assume a significant responsibility that would make a real difference in the world and that top college students would choose teaching over more lucrative opportunities if a prominent teacher corps existed.[3]
Shortly after graduating from Princeton, Kopp founded Teach For America. In 1990, 500 recent college graduates joined Teach For America's charter corps.
In 2007, Kopp founded Teach For All, a global network of independent nonprofit organizations that apply the same model as Teach For America in other countries.[4]
In 2013, Kopp transitioned out of the role of CEO of Teach For America and named Elisa Villanueva Beard and Matt Kramer as co-CEOs of the organization. Villanueva Beard assumed full leadership in September 2015. Today, Kopp remains an active member of Teach For America's board.[5]
^"2006 Summit Highlights Photo". Archived from the original on 2020-09-17. Retrieved 2021-01-08. Summit Host George Lucas congratulates Wendy Kopp, founder and President of Teach for America, on receiving the Gold Medal of the Academy of Achievement during the 2006 International Achievement Summit in Los Angeles.