The No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 set forth to hold all schools accountable to high standards and address the long-standing objective of closing the achievement gap between students from high and low socioeconomic backgrounds. The guidelines and criteria that describe highly qualified teachers emphasize pedigrees and standardized test scores as the basis for measuring quality and effective teaching. This review of the literature examines the criteria for "highly qualified" teachers from an urban contextual viewpoint and explores the characteristics of "stars," or teachers who have demonstrated the ability to work effectively with urban children. We conclude that the "highly qualified" teacher standards of the No Child Left Behind Act do not adequately address the skills, knowledge, and dispositions needed by teachers to meet the demands and challenges of urban teaching. (Contains 1 table.)