This booklet approaches the question of whether competency-based teacher education (CBTE) and performance-based teacher education (PBTE) can foster meaningful change in teacher preparation programs. The following sections are included: (a) CBTE background and definitions of related terms; (b) a differentiation between PBTE and CBTE, with PBTE seen as providing teacher education candidates with specified teaching behaviors to be demonstrated and CBTE seen as assessing preservice candidates on the basis of the results they are able to obtain with elementary and secondary school students; (c) an exemplification of issues with the Nebraska University Secondary Teacher Education Program (NUSTEP) including objectives, instruction in NUSTEP, learner assessment and evaluation, program assessment and evaluation, and promises and problems for NUSTEP; and (d) the challenge for teacher education, which encompasses assumptions for CBTE, program development, and promises to be achieved. The prognosis for establishing CBTE is not favorable since teacher preparation programs may continue to be based on unsupported assumptions and beliefs about the knowledge or behaviors that teachers should have. It is felt that little effort will be expended in identifying the relationships between teaching skills and the learning outcomes obtained by the pupils. (JCW)