Book review: a chance to make history: what works and what doesn’t in providing an excellent education for all, by Wendy Kopp

In 1990, Wendy Kopp founded Teach for America, a scheme that places college graduates as school teachers in some of the poorest communities in the US with the aim of enabling a positive turnaround in children’s expectations and realisations of life success. Throughout the book the author draws on the observations and insights she gained from this programme over the past two decades to offer informed responses to the global problem of educational inequity. Joan Wilson feels that policymakers around the world would do well to sit up and take notice of the key issues it raises.