ABSTRACT
For too long, teacher preparation, licensing, and continuing development have been hostage to the status quo. Some promising reforms have been developed, but they are still not the norm. To ensure quality in teaching, it is time for the profession to embrace a system of quality assurance that is already used by other professions. Such a system is composed of sets of standards within three interconnected mechanisms:
• professional accreditation of institutions that prepare teachers; • performance-based licensing; and • certification of accomplished teachers.
