The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), schools districts, and institutions of higher education have initiated a number of efforts to improve teacher quality and professional development. The first section of this report highlights the recommendations of leading commissions and reports released in the past ten years pertaining to teachers' professional development. The second section of the report presents the results of MSDE's "Survey of Teacher Participation in High-Quality Professional Development" in 2003-2004. This survey served two functions. First, it enabled MSDE to comply with No Child Left Behind (NCLB), which requires states to report annually on teacher participation in high-quality professional development. The third section of the report examines how MSDE and districts organize professional development and the challenges they confront. The main challenge to MSDE, the Council asserts, is defining and maintaining a viable and productive role in a process in which most of the action occurs at the local level. The fourth section of this report introduces the new Maryland Teacher Professional Development Standards. The result of an extensive review of research on professional development and numerous examples of standards developed elsewhere, six of these standards define the content of professional development while three others address critical elements of the process. The final part of the Council's report looks to the future. It recommends the creation of a statewide system of high-quality professional development to help ensure that every child in the state learns from competent, caring teachers. The Council also recommends that the Maryland State Board of Education and each of Maryland's 24 school districts adopt the Maryland Teacher Professional Development Standards as the foundation for the system. "What Stakeholders Say about Maryland's Professional Development Standards for Teachers" is appended. (Contains 6 exhibits.)