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Elevating Teaching

Elevating teaching

Honoring teachers and celebrating the teaching profession

A teacher engages a small group of students in active conversation.

Our vision

Teaching is perceived statewide as a highly-skilled, creative, and appealing profession, and teachers feel strongly valued and appreciated for their talent and contributions.


About our campaign

We are committed to elevating the status of the teaching profession through ongoing storytelling efforts about the influence and impact of great teachers and participation in, and support of, the statewide #TeachersCan movement.

Voices on Teaching logo

Everyone has a story about a teacher, or multiple teachers, who changed their life. Over the course of their careers, teachers impact hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people and change not only individual lives, but also families’ trajectories. They spark imaginations, unlock hidden talents, inspire students to realize what’s possible, and build strong foundations for the future.

The Charles Butt Foundation’s Voices on Teaching series features diverse perspectives about the importance of the teaching profession and personal stories about teachers who helped give rise to the future.


Add your voice to Voices on Teaching!

Just upload a video or story about a teacher who changed your life to your favorite social media presence and tag @CharlesButtFdn with the hashtag #VoicesOnTeaching.

Program goals

  1. Elevate teaching as a highly respected, recommended, and desired profession
  2. Increase teacher retention rates by supporting teacher pride and morale
  3. Generate business and organizational support across Texas for teachers and the teaching profession
Teachers Can Logo in Blue

The Charles Butt Foundation is one of more than 150 partners in #TeachersCan, a movement committed to elevating the teaching profession and honoring the critical role teachers play in the success of Texas.

Texas needs great teachers

Teachers are critical to preparing the future of Texas. Our educators change lives and empower students to do more than they ever thought possible. We need teachers, students, and others to see teaching as a fulfilling, important, and respected profession. Yet, too often the opposite is true. Teachers often feel overwhelmed and under-appreciated. Fewer people are choosing to pursue a teaching career while more teachers are leaving the profession.

This must change. That’s why #TeachersCan was formed.

About #TeachersCan

In mid-2019, a statewide coalition consisting of dozens of Texas brands, associations, chambers and community groups, and universities came together and created an initiative designed to:

  1. Increase teacher morale and pave the way for teachers to share their stories about teaching and express why teaching is so important
  2. Increase perceived value of the teaching profession and likelihood of parents (and teachers!) to encourage students to consider teaching as a career
  3. Generate individual, corporate, and community support for teachers and their classrooms
  4. Provide organizations an open source platform to support teachers

Statewide partnerships

Since 2020, #TeachersCan has coordinated campaigns and promotions around Teacher Appreciation Week in May, back-to-school time in August, and Texas Teachers’ Day the week of October 5. Since 2021, #TeachersCan partners and generous supporters across the state have raised more than $3.1 million for Texas teachers and classrooms through a donor-match partnership with DonorsChoose. #TeachersCan also launched a statewide public service advertising campaign consisting of TV spots and billboard displays.

What’s next?

To learn more about #TeachersCan and how you and/or your organization can get involved and help support teachers, visit TeachersCan.org.