State policymakers can have an impact on the quality of the teaching force if they look seriously at three issues. The first issue is setting and enforcing teaching standards: setting standards for teacher education, teacher licensing, and ongoing evaluation and professional development; working toward National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) accreditation for all schools of education; licensing teachers based on Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) standards and assessments; and using standards developed by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) as the benchmark for advanced certification of accomplished teachers. The second issue is improving teacher education and induction programs. Successful methods incorporate new knowledge about learning and teaching, link theory to practice, and provide ongoing support throughout the early teaching years. The third issue is recruiting, developing, and retaining good teachers. These efforts include: state scholarships for preparation, mid-career recruitment, reciprocal licensing agreements and portable pensions, incentives to enter teaching, professional development organized around new standards, support for new professional development sources, ongoing daily professional development, and allocation of state and local education funding for professional development. (SM)