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There’s a quiet crisis in America’s schools, and within it, an opportunity.

Across the country, classrooms are struggling to find and keep teachers. This isn’t just a staffing issue; it’s a deeper reckoning with how we value public education and the people who carry it forward. The pandemic accelerated what was already happening: Fewer young people are choosing teaching, and many who do enter the classroom leave after just a few years, citing unsustainable demands, low pay, and a lack of respect.

Yet even as the profession struggles, there is momentum for change. The shortage has forced schools and organizations to ask a bigger question: What would it take to make teaching a career that people actively want to pursue and build their lives around?

The good news is that we know what works. When teachers feel empowered, respected, and supported, students thrive and the research backs this up. A 2016 study published in Frontiers in Psychology by Elizabeth Ruzek and colleagues found that when teachers’ emotional support meets students’ needs for autonomy, connection, and competence, students report stronger motivation and higher engagement in the classroom. In other words, the very conditions that sustain adults –respect, autonomy, and belonging – are the same ones that help young people feel seen, safe, and succeed.

Some school systems are recognizing this. Green Dot Public Schools, a network of public charter schools in Los Angeles, is giving teachers time for collaborative planning and access to subject specific coaching. These educators are given real influence over curriculum and policy, supported by a rare model: a unionized charter network that expands teacher agency rather than constrains it.

Because sustainability matters, Green Dot invests in wellness. In schools serving historically underserved communities, educators are often not only teaching but also carrying the emotional weight of their students’ challenges. Green Dot hosts wellness retreats that center on health and balance, acknowledging that adults need care too if they are to create safe and thriving climates for students. These investments aren’t perks; they are essentials for sustaining the profession.

Green Dot is also helping to grow the next generation of educators from within. At Ánimo Locke College Preparatory Academy, the Educated Workforce Pathways program gives students the chance to take child development classes at Southwest College, earn certificates, and mentor younger peers through the Unified Saints program. These students lead inclusion activities during the school day, building foundational skills to one day serve as paraprofessionals or teachers. For some, it sparks a desire to become special education teachers, turning exposure into aspiration.

Nationally, organizations like Teach For America are also reimagining how to bring new people into the profession and keep them there. In Los Angeles alone, more than 1,000 TFA teachers are working in classrooms, with 72% identifying as Black, Indigenous, or people of color and 41% as alumni of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

These aren’t just statistics. They represent a growing shift in who is in front of students and why it matters. Students see teachers who share their roots, reflect their communities, and model what it looks like to lead with purpose. Many of these teachers remain in education well beyond their initial commitment, becoming school leaders, district administrators, and advocates shaping policy. TFA has also worked to reduce financial barriers to entering the profession, expanding who has access to teaching by providing stipends, scholarships, and mentorship that help aspiring educators stay the course.

By rethinking recruitment and development, TFA is making teaching feel less like an impossible burden and more like a purposeful, supported path. When the teacher workforce mirrors the diversity and resilience of the communities it serves, the impact on students is profound.

The teacher shortage is real. But within this challenge is a rare moment to reimagine the profession, not just to fill classrooms, but to redefine what it means to teach.

If we rise to this moment, the next generation won’t inherit schools staffed by necessity. They will inherit a profession rebuilt with intention, one that reflects the value we place on education and the people who make it possible.