One Day, All Children...: The Unlikely Triumph of Teach for America and What I Learned Along the Way

Several years have passed since Wendy Kopp wrote this account of how she established what has since become one of the most effective change agent organizations throughout public school education in the U.S., Teach For America. As I read her book, I was reminded of the song "Come Fly with Me" and the invitation extended by Cahn and Van Heusen's lyrics: "Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly Pack up, let's fly away!" That is essentially the same invitation that Wendy Kopp has been extending to college graduates since 1990 and an invitation they, in turn, have then extended to public school students throughout the United States. Those recruited, trained, and assigned by Teach for America - making a two-year commitment to classroom teaching -- continue to help children entrusted to their care to dream what may at first seem "an impossible dream" to them, then pursue it. For many children, especially those growing up within low-income, high-crime communities, education can be their "passport" to a higher standard of living and better quality of life. As Kopp explains in this book, after graduating from Princeton, she (age 21) raised $2.5 million of start-up funding for Teach For America, hired a skeleton staff, and launched a grass-roots recruitment campaign. During its first year in 1990, 500 men and women began teaching in six low-income communities across the country. Since then, Teach For America's network has grown to 17,000 individuals and has become the nation's largest provider of teachers for low-income communities. This year, Teach For America serves 26 urban and rural regions and impacts three million students. To date, it has served more than 5,000 communities, has more than 12,000 core members, more than 425,000 alumni, and has impacted nearly 3 million students since its inception almost 20 years ago. Kopp traces the process from her original vision (i.e. "a national teacher corps of top recent college graduates who would commit two years to teach in urban and rural schools") to what Teach For America has become. She acknowledges all of the sources of support she received along the way and is especially appreciative of those who challenged her ideas, not because they disagreed with any of those ideas but because they wanted to help her sharpen and clarify her thinking. Here is a composite excerpt from Kopp's narrative near the end of this book that indicates some of the lessons she learned along the way. "What I have learned in building Teach For America and from our corps members and alumni suggests that it will take three things to raise achievement levels in low-income schools. First, it will take committing ourselves to the vision that one day, all children in our nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education...Second, we must recognize that accomplishing our mission will take more of just about everything - including more time and, ultimately, more resources...There's an understandable discomfort with th

Read the book in one day! Even though you know the outcome, it has the pull of a fiction novel as you read through the ups and downs of building TFA.Kopp shows that vision, persistence and optimism can beat the odds when it comes to a good idea. She also demonstrates that all good ideas hit big speed bumps and resiliency is key with some insightful stories.In addition there is a fairly specific prescription for what makes for a good teacher at the end of the book. This isn't philosophical musings--this is exeperiential lessons being laid out by Kopp.If you feel like being uplifted and gaining some knowledge on what makes a good teacher operate--read this book.

Like the rest of the world, I was profoundly touched by the heroics of the New York police and firefighters during and after the terrorist attacks. I see their self-sacrifice as the ultimate example of public service and a moving reminder of the American spirit of service to one's fellowmen. I could never presume that my commitment could rise to the level of the heroic actions of the people in New York, but I have been inspired by the example. Although I am eager to fully explore policy issues in graduate school, I strongly desire to serve Teach For America prior to furthering my education. Teach For America is Wendy Kopp's brilliant idea to recruit, train, and place the nation's best college graduates in inner-city teaching positions. "One Day, All Children..." is Kopp's story of the development of this non-profit organization that upholds the mission statement of, "One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education."Nearing her graduation from Princeton University in 1989, Kopp faced a problem many idealistic young people face, including myself: wanting to have an immediate impact on the world. The idea of Teach For America was originally Kopp's senior thesis, but becamse a reality when she decided to pursue it upon graduation. The opening chapters of the book focus on the hard work it took to raise funds, recruit applicants, select teachers, plan and implement training, and survive on a day to day basis. These chapters are fascinating, explicitly detailed (with memos and letters included that Kopp wrote to CEOs for funding, etc), and paint a beautiful picture of the hard work that Kopp and others put in to TFA.The following few chapters focus on the younger years of TFA, and these chapters drag a little bit (and are a little repetitive). But the chapters are well worth the read, as Kopp closes nicely with what she learned from the experiences. Kopp learned two important lessons to running a business, and they are closely tied together. First, Kopp realized that TFA had to have effective management and leadership. Although TFA was able to survive initially on its own merit, good ideas will not keep a company going in the long run. Second, TFA had to set goals for its finances and plan business accordingly. Early on Kopp started other programs that worked in conjunction with TFA, like TEACH! which worked to recruit excellent college graduates into teaching positions. But TFA tried to move on this idea before the funding was there, and this created a world of trouble for Kopp, as she works long hours every day just to make sure that TFA makes payroll every two weeks! In the end TFA is able to become a viable program not only through the impact it creates and the hard work and motivation of its employees, but also because of its connection with the Americorps program.The next section deals with the success of TFA and is inspiring to all those that are thinking of serving the country. Ko

Wendy Kopp's book is must reading for anyone concerned about the poor performance of disadvantaged students in too many of our schools. As the founder of Teach for America, Ms. Kopp started an organization that has led the way in bringing new people and new solutions to our schools. This experience has given her insights into what must be done to change our schools and is therefore a straightforward, entertaining and above all positive approach to educational reform. It peddles no particular curriculum or even pedagogical approach. The book is not just instructive for those concerned about education. It should also be required reading for anyone in the nonprofit sector who wants to improve an existing organization or start a new one. It tells how Ms. Kopp as a college senior transformed her senior thesis at Princeton into a movement for educational reform throughout the United States. Would-be do-gooders who want to help make some part of the American Dream a reality for others can learn from this model of commitment, leadership and intelligence. The book is not a puff piece about the success of the TFA, but a detailed account about the false starts and many mistakes made by Ms. Kopp that can hopefully help others to avoid. This book is about how to be an effective change agent in a world that needs thousands more like her.

Telling the autobiographical account of herself as a naive college student launching a movement, Wendy Kopp offers detailed explanations of her mistakes and personal follies along the way, giving the book an unusual honesty and character. It's an excellent case study of building a large non-profit organization, but it's also a moving story of powerful determination. The book becomes a real gem when it tells inspiring personal accounts of the teachers within her corps. By the end, you realize (or at least I did) that her vision may actually be a possible reality: That "One day, ALL children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education." A must-read for those (even remotely) interested in improving educational equality in this country.(FYI, all proceeds from the book go directly to Teach For America to attain classroom resources for its corps members!)