Potential secondary school English teachers undergo a unique screening procedure at the University of Washington. The education faculty allows the English faculty to recommend qualified candidates for the English education program. Students considering teaching English as a career visit the English department's advisory office, where they complete several prerecommendation requirements, including a half-hour interview with a three-member committee. The requirements for assembling the requisite portfolio of relevant information for the interviewers involve six categories, three of which are designed to generate further reflection by the candidates on their aptitude and motives for teaching. Immediately following the interview, each interviewer rates the candidate on a 10-point scale, with 15 points required for a recommendation. Prospective teachers must then commit themselves to a three-quarter sequence, which combines education courses in psychology, classroom management, and methods of teaching with increasing responsibility in classrooms--from observation and occasional participation during the first quarter, to full or nearly full teaching responsibility during the third quarter. While systematic follow-up studies have not yet been undertaken to assess more formally the value of this recommendation procedure, informal and sporadic reports from secondary school teachers and principals suggest that the university is graduating strong beginning teachers. (HTH)