Using evidence from more than 500 colleges and universities producing nearly half of the nation's new teachers annually, this report answers two questions that go to the heart of whether the demands of teacher preparation are well matched to the demands of the classroom: Are teacher candidates graded too easily, misleading them about their readiness to teach? Are teacher preparation programs providing sufficiently rigorous training, or does the approach to training drive higher grades? [Listed appendices available online for this document: (1) Institutions' scores on the Rigor Standard; (2) Methodology to analyze grade differences as revealed by honors; (3) Methodology to analyze coursework; (4) Converting criterion-deficient assignments to criterion-referenced assignments; (5) Validating the findings on teacher candidates' grades; (6) Statistical relationship between course grades and proportion of grades based on criterion-deficient assignments; and (7) Exploring the effects of high grades. Numerous organizations sponsored this work; the full list can be seen on page 2 of the document.]