Everyone agrees that a person can not have good education without good teachers, but how do teachers see their profession? Why do people become teachers, what are their frustrations, and what reforms do they think would improve their work? This report is designed to learn more about how to support and retain the most promising teachers. The study looks at how teachers see the profession today. Taking a closer look at the nation's teacher corps based on educators' attitudes and motivations for teaching provides some notable implications for how to identify, retain, and support the most effective teachers, according to researchers. The study was based on a nationwide survey, with more than 100 questions, of nearly 900 teachers. It was jointly conducted by Public Agenda, a New York City-based nonprofit, nonpartisan research and public-engagement organization, and Learning Point Associates, a nonprofit education research and consulting organization based in Naperville, Illinois, that provides direct professional services at the federal, state, and local levels. Researchers at Public Agenda conducted a cluster analysis of the survey results revealing three distinct groups of teachers. Based on their unique individual characteristics and their attitudes about the profession, teachers naturally fell into three broad categories, which researchers call (1) the "Disheartened"; (2) the "Contented"; and (3) the "Idealists."