Black educators say they're committed to the profession amid growing pressures, underrepresentation
"I want to make sure that people are interested in becoming teachers."
2026 National Teacher of the Year Leon Smith has been widely praised for his innovative teaching methods, which include civic engagement labs and pioneering African American studies curriculum. But it is "inspiring the next generation of educators" that the history teacher, who teaches at Haverford High School in Pennsylvania, sees as his utmost priority for his tenure as National Teacher of the Year.
"Teaching has always been such a positive thing for our whole society, and so I want to make sure that people are interested in becoming teachers," Smith told ABC News.
With Teacher Appreciation Week underway nationwide, the celebration comes against a backdrop of ongoing pressures on the profession, notably teacher shortages and inadequate pay.
In 2025, according to the Learning Policy Institute, more than 45,000 teacher positions were vacant across the country, with over 365,000 positions being filled by educators not fully certified for their teaching assignments.
The National Education Association also estimates the average salary of classroom teachers has decreased by 4.6% over the past decade, accounting for inflation. A recent Gallup poll notes that 1 in 5 K-12 teachers is struggling financially, with 1 in 3 having a second job outside of education.
Khary Golden, who spent more than a decade working in educational policy, told ABC News that bleak statistics in the education field were a "call to action" for him to become a teacher himself at Mastery High School in New Jersey last year.
"As an industry of teachers, we have a renewable resource right in front of us, and they're the students that we work with every single day," said Golden. "And as a teacher, my No. 1 job, aside from delivering that content, delivering a great learning experience for my students, is to show my students how fun being a teacher is."
Zahkee Williams is new to the field as a 23-year-old elementary teacher at Camden Charter Promise School in New Jersey. Recruited to the role by Teach for America during his final year of college, it was indeed a professor of his, Dr. Kristin Bezio of the University of Richmond, who gave Williams the final push to solidify his career plans.
"She was like, 'I've seen you work with kids, and I think you have a gift for this. And I think the kids would really enjoy you being there,'" Williams recounted, speaking with ABC News. "Once she said that, I was like, 'OK, I think I'm gonna go for this.'"
"Teaching has always been such a positive thing for our whole society, and so I want to make sure that people are interested in becoming teachers," Smith added.
Within the ongoing teacher shortage, government data shows that just 6% of U.S. public school teachers are Black and less than 2% are Black men. Smith, Williams, and Golden reflected on the need for diverse representation in the classroom to inspire the next generation of educators.
"Being exposed to that type of thing when you're young a lot, you would be like, 'Oh, that's a viable future for me,'" Williams said.
Smith told ABC News, "Early in my career, I would always have students that would say I was their big brother or I was their uncle … I could tell that it meant something to them that I was here. And so I think it's important that students feel connected to the curriculum, to the books they're reading, to the adults in the building."
Golden also emphasized the importance of recruiting educators within the communities that students come from.
"I do think we need to think of more innovative approaches to getting homegrown educators into classrooms," he said. "I've done a lot of work in building teacher pathways in the city of Camden, and as somebody who's from the city of Camden, I couldn't think of anybody better to fulfill some of these roles that we're talking about."
Despite the challenges facing teachers today, some educators are taking it on themselves to enrich their students' experiences where there may be persistent shortfalls, acting as a positive model for kids who might be curious about teaching in their communities some day.
Dominique Foster, a pre-school teacher at Friendship Public Charter School in Washington, D.C., who was named 2022 D.C. Teacher of the Year, spoke about her drive to "be creative" to obtain resources for her students, including securing tens of thousands of dollars in external grant funding.
"I do have a passion of, like, I need to be the example for the children and for the parents," she said. "...Wherever you are and whatever community [you're from], you should be provided a wonderful and high quality education."
Golden said he places emphasis on his role as a mentor and guardian beyond just being an educator and tells his students he loves them every day.
"I try to recognize them as often as possible," he said. "If I see students being a peer leader or tutoring one of their classmates, I say, 'That's a great teacher characteristic. Have you ever thought about it?'"
"It's just about planting that seed," he added.
ABC News' Sabina Ghebremedhin and Tesfaye Negussie contributed to this report.
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