Throughout the 20th Century, medicine and law set the professional standards by which all other professions came to be measured. Teaching fell short of the mark because teachers were not perceived as having much control over their professional lives. For example, the professions of medicine and law developed standards boards or associations to regulate the profession in terms of the above characteristics. In light of a recent proliferation of independent professional standards boards (IPSBs), the purpose of this study was to trace the events that led to the establishment of independent professional standards boards in education, and to illustrate the functions of such governing bodies. Secondarily, the study briefly demonstrates the political lineages of such boards.