Effective teaching was the focus of a great deal of research during the 1970s. Many relationships between how teachers teach and what students learn were identified. Findings emerged from studies using a wide variety of methodologies. Thus far, findings from the research on teaching have been used primarily to improve the instruction of inservice teachers. However, the spotlight for educational improvement in the 1980s is on preservice teacher education. The 1982 Conference on Research on Teaching, upon which this paper is based, produced a synthesis of salient research findings from schools and classrooms. This paper considers the implications of the research on teaching to the curriculum and instruction of preservice teacher education. The effective school findings are considered first, followed by the descriptive and statistical findings on classroom organization and management, instruction, and teacher expectations. A section on collaborative research describes a process rather than findings per se. Included in each section are suggestions of how these research findings might be incorporated into preservice programs. The final section discusses some of the problems and challenges confronting those who are responsible for preparing new teachers. (JMK)