ABSTRACT
Advances in the knowledge base for teaching now can make teacher preparation meaningfully rigorous and truly empowering. In fact, the knowledge base now permits a fundamental reconceptualization of instruction at all levels of schooling (Preston, 1994). Instead of exploiting this unprecedented opportunity, however, many state officials have paradoxically been fostering lax, disempowering short cuts into teaching. Thirty eight states now offer so-called alternative certification programs (Buck, 1995), and some of them are so undemanding they virtually insure incompetence.
