LaKeisha Wells-Palmer, Executive Director & Vice President, Teach For America

In an interview with Invest:, LaKeisha Wells-Palmer, statewide executive director and vice president of Teach For America, discussed the organization’s role as a strategic talent partner across Florida and its work in Northeast Florida. Wells-Palmer highlighted Jacksonville’s ability to pilot ideas that can later scale statewide, as well as the importance of developing future-ready educators and students. “I believe that education is one of the greatest economic development strategies for the state,” Wells-Palmer said.

What is Teach For America’s role in Northeast Florida, and what have been the most important changes or milestones over the past 12 months?

I view Teach For America as a strategic talent partner that focuses on leadership development and capacity building for educators. We have three core competencies: talent acquisition, talent development, and talent matching, ensuring that we have quality leaders at all levels, specifically for communities that need us most, where students and communities have barriers that are preventing them from excelling at a high level.

I believe we are probably the No. 1 talent source of not just teachers, but principals, coaches, and leaders within our sector. We also think about the broader ecosystem and ensuring that teachers, no matter if they are from a Teach For America background or not, have access to our development and support because we want to make sure that all students have quality teachers.

In addition to leading Teach For America Jacksonville, I also lead the other Teach For America Florida regions, including Central Florida, Orlando, Tampa, and South Florida, where we partner in Miami, Broward, and Palm Beach. At the statewide level, I believe that education is one of the greatest economic development strategies for the state, which is not something that people have always looked at education as. Every child who has access to an excellent teacher and is able to build their capacities will be better positioned to contribute to Florida’s future.

The other major shift is the increasing presence of Gen Z in education. Gen Z in the workforce has reshaped how we recruit, develop, and support teacher talent. These emerging educators help shape how the next generation of students will think about leadership, innovation, and work. Their impact extends well beyond today’s classroom, and we see this as a strength we bring to workforce readiness.

How does your statewide role help you understand the needs and opportunities in Jacksonville?

I always start with a top-line understanding of educational needs statewide: what communities are prioritizing, how well communities are doing, and what communities we have to learn from. Having that balcony view helps me figure out how I can meet the needs of each individual region.

Florida is almost like three states. Jacksonville is close to Georgia and conservative. They want to see the data, outcomes, and impact. South Florida is a totally different world, and Central Florida is a really good mix. After I obtain the statewide perspective, I focus on being proximate to the community, conducting school visits, talking to superintendents, business leaders, university presidents, school boards, and legislators, and understanding the strategic needs of our communities.

For Jacksonville, I started my Teach For America career here in 2012, so it is home for me. Community is really important here. Whenever I want to pilot something or innovate, I launch it in Jacksonville. That is where we started Ignite, our first workforce development initiative. Years later, we have been able to scale it statewide because Jacksonville allows us to assess, pressure test, and prove what works before expanding it to other regions.

How are students’ needs evolving with digital media and AI, and how are educators adapting?

A lot of people say they are experts in AI, but not everybody is an expert in AI, because AI is constantly changing. The biggest takeaway is that students are learning things at a more rapid rate than they have in previous years. When I was a student, I had to go to the library, get the encyclopedia, and use the Dewey Decimal System. Students now are able to learn information immediately and have tools that help them process it.

What that means for a classroom teacher, or the education system, is that they almost have to be 10 to 20 steps ahead of the students to continue to build their skills and move them forward. Our entry point with AI is aligned to the educator, and our AI principles support us in aligning AI with effective teaching and learning.

As a former teacher, I know firsthand that differentiating for 30 students takes considerable time. AI can maximize efficiency and help teachers meet students’ needs more quickly. It also gives educators better insight into student learning and reinforces the importance of listening to student perspectives as schools adapt to rapidly changing technology.

The myth is that AI diffuses critical thinking, but I believe that if used correctly and ethically, AI can actually maximize students’ critical thinking skills, which will put them on a path to having soft skills and technical skills that I probably did not graduate from high school with.

How can AI help educators spend more time on relationship building and workforce-readiness skills?

The goal with AI is for teachers to spend more time on relationship building. By reducing administrative work and paperwork, AI can maximize efficiency and allow teachers to spend more time with students.

What we want to capitalize on is the human connection aligned to some of those soft skills that you typically do not get in a classroom, but that you need for the workforce. How are you aligning with peers? How are you analyzing a problem, working with a team, and moving towards outcomes?

AI also gives teachers time to help students navigate across lines of difference. Most classrooms right now are not homogeneous. Students are coming from different entry points, and one role for teachers is to help students navigate those differences so they can work with people who might not think like them or work like them, but can still come together and provide an output.

Additionally, AI provides teachers with more time to build relationships with parents, which is really important. Teachers spend most of the day with students, but you do not want students to lose that momentum when they go home. You need to connect with the best next thing to your classroom, which is their parent. That provides continuity for students to grow inside and outside of the classroom.

How is Teach For America helping address teacher shortages and other workforce challenges in education?

We market Teach For America’s role by presenting ourselves to our partners as a strategic talent partner. We are not a teacher vending machine. We are able to provide multiple levels of educators, from tutors to teachers to coaches and even school leaders. We have a national alumni body of over 70,000 education leaders. In Florida, we have over 5,000 alumni.

In Jacksonville, we have seen progress in students’ early years, including early indicators for reading and math. The challenge now is in the middle grades, specifically middle-grade math. Middle-school math, particularly Algebra 1, is a key indicator of whether a student can earn the highest degree of diploma when they graduate in Florida, which puts them on a trajectory to make true choices about their future.

These challenges are significant, but they also present an opportunity for how we rethink our work together. We believe progress will come when there is shared responsibility and collective leadership. Looking ahead, we believe Florida is uniquely positioned to be a national leader in developing a future-ready educator and a future-ready student.

In Jacksonville, teacher talent, affordability, and kindergarten readiness are priorities. The city wants to use education as a lever to ensure Jacksonville is on a pathway to be what leaders call a world-class city. We are building the infrastructure and relationships needed to respond to those needs, lead alongside other leaders in Jacksonville, and contribute to closing the gaps based on these challenges.