Video: Challenge to bring in good teachers

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   >>> colleges the unsung heroes of america's education system . to reduce the dropout rate, the bill and ma linda gates foundation pledged almost $35 million. here's melinda gates on the "today" program.

   >> we have today over 8 million students in community colleges and these are students that you don't think of, nontraditional students, and the idea is to not have just 25% of them today complete with some sort of certificate or degree but to get so many more of them through the system, make it easier to complete community college to go on and get a job in the economy.

   >> wendy kopp joins us, from fortune magazine 's most powerful women's conference. teach for america has been really front and center in the reform debate and community colleges , of course, are participate of this debate. but in terms of primary and secondary education, how do you break the cycle and bring teachers in who are from higher percentage of achievement? you've done that and been more selective. how do you deal with the pushback from unions and others resisting this kind of broadening of the recruitment for teach eers in america.

   >> we worked in partnership with unions. we're on campuses across the country and beyond. sending the message that we need this country's future leaders to step up and do something about what we believe is our country's greatest social injustice which is just the fact that still today where you're born determines your eldcational prospects and, in turn, life prospects. i think the reason -- i think there are many reasons this message is resonating maybe more today than ever before and i think a lot of it is what we've learned in the last 20 years of this effort in urban and rural communities . what we've learned is giving us such optimism that actually we could make this happen. we can, to use your phrase, break the cycle of poverty by investing in education. and i think people want to be part of that.

   >> you've had an extraordinary increase in recruit lt, perhaps some of this is the economy but 46,000 applicants. take the top 10%. that is really a highly selective acceptance rate but at the same time how do you keep these young people after the first couple of years, the third year, there is an attrition rate which some would say is too high, for these very active, very enthusiastic young teachers.

   >> you know, i think it's important to understand, i guess, what teach for america is working to do. we're really a leadership finish initiati initiative, working to fuel the larger movement to ensure that all of our kids have an excellent education by enlisting our future leaders in the effort and the idea is that these are people with extraordinary leadership ability. they commit two years to teach in our highest poverty communities, teaching successfully in this context in urban and rural schools is an act of leader shship. we invest a lot in their training and support, so in the short run we're one more source of very committed teachers. many will continue teaching beyond their two years. others will decide, and this is the second part of what teach for america is working to do, you know, to fuel a leadership force of people who will work at every level of our education system ultimately at every level of policy and across our professional sectors to affect the systemic changes we need to see in order to truly solve the problem. some of our people will decide i want to become a principal. we have 600 who are running schools in urban and rural areas right now. others will decide i want to be a school superintendent or, you know what, i want to run for state senate and ultimately higher forms of political office . we think all that have is important. ultimately teachers alone going above and beyond to try to make up for all the weaknesses of the system doesn't ultimately solve the problem either.

   >> wendy kopp from teach for america , the founder, innovator, thank you so much for joining us.

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