This report describes research that is focused specifically on enhancing: (1) Americans’ shallow thinking about what teachers need in order to be effective and (2) Americans’ view of the role of teachers’ unions as plausible supports for teachers and the overall education reform effort. FrameWorks designed and tested a simplifying model or metaphor called Scaffolding, which was found to be effective in creating, extending and expanding the public’s understanding of the supports needed for teachers. This metaphor was also successful in opening up opportunities for productive discussions on the positive role teachers’ unions can play in education reform.