That’s the question explored in a recent Education Week article featuring Thrive’s work in partnership with Teach for America and the Bay Area Collaborative for Reimagining Teaching. The piece highlights how schools are using strategic staffing to rethink schedules, student grouping, and teacher roles in ways that support both student learning and educator well-being.

At New School San Francisco, one of the pilot schools, 1st grade teachers redesigned their reading block so students could receive more targeted support while teachers shared the work of planning and differentiation. The result was a more flexible, team-based approach that helped reduce class size, increase collaboration, and create more sustainable conditions for teachers.

For us, this work is a reminder that strategic staffing is not just about changing schedules. It is about giving educators the time, structures, and agency to design better ways of meeting student needs together.

Read the full article: https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/how-these-schools-use-teams-to-cut-teacher-workloads/2026/06