Wendy Kopp Quotes

You can have great teachers, but if you don't have a good principal, you won't have a good school.

My father was also a principal of a school and mother was a curriculum advisor. Both were educators.

The big shift in approach on education that we are taking - which is different from what happened before - is that we trust teachers and we trust heads.

In Los Angeles, we've seen a phenomenon where a school will go from one that no one will go to, to within three years becoming the 'hot' school. I've seen this over and over again.

The main thing I am interested in is my experience as a teacher.

I mean, one thing I know about change is we are not going to close the achievement gap without educators.

By far the most important factor in the success or failure of any school, far more important than tests or standards or business-model methods of accountability, is simply attracting the best-educated, most exciting young people into urban schools and keeping them there.

School district policies and practices have not kept pace with student and teacher needs.

More often than not, the most effective leaders have been shaped by teaching successfully in high needs classrooms. Because of their experience, they know that it is possible for low-income children to achieve on an absolute scale and understand what we need to do to allow them to fulfill their potential.

The most experienced teachers are frequently promoted right out of the classroom!

We have had this massive effort on K-12 reform, raising standards, great teachers, great principals, turning around chronically failing schools, raising the bar, huge amount of progress. Let's continue that.

The nature of education fundamentally has not changed in a century - and I say this as someone whose parents are both teachers.

I love working with teachers and principals; they are my heroes. They are very dedicated to children, and it's very impactful.

I spent a few years after college as a Boston public school teacher and I loved it. But I was never committed to it, committed to it as a career.

I began my journey as a captain when I was just 21-22 and leading the Indian side for so many years has helped me also grow as a person. My growth as a person pretty much has happened on the ground along with teammates.

I think there are really are some public schools, incredibly successful public schools, that are inculcating a real educational ethic in their students.

If you want to be able to teach, then you need to listen - a lot.

Any captain will take some time to settle down. Nobody is an outstanding leader straightaway.

Successful state schools work because charismatic heads or teachers are terrific bluffers, giving the impression that they are to be feared while knowing in their hearts that they have no real power.

Statesman create; ordinary leaders consume. The ordinary leader is satisfied with ameliorating the environment, not transforming it; a statesman must be a visionary and an educator.

As Governor of Texas, I have set high standards for our public schools, and I have met those standards.

In all the works on pedagogy that ever I read — and they have been many, big, and heavy — I don't remember that any one has advocated a system of teaching by practical jokes, mostly cruel. That, however, describes the method of our great teacher, Experience.

When leadership rises to genius it has the power of transforming, of transforming experience into power. And that is what experience is for, to be made into power. The great leader creates as well as directs power.

I think a lot of teachers want to talk about how to continually improve performance.

[Mitt] Romney looks the part and is well known around the world and has a lot of experience.