This article identifies some critical areas regarding teacher education that need to be addressed by any institution responsible for educating teachers. The authors outline some of the paradoxical pressures that constitute the context for this crisis in teacher education and specify the kinds of basic questions that need systematic answers in terms of what teachers might be expected to know. These questions serve as a worldwide call for teacher educators to provide evidence-based programs that employ the knowledge needed to be a teacher as the basis for actually educating a teacher. Mark Alter and Fernando Naiditch examine the example of one school of education and how it has shown that adapting to local needs and circumstances without having to alter the essence of your work can be an effective strategy in keeping a program meaningful and up-to-date. A number of questions are raised that the authors believe reflect the evolving nature of the field of teacher education and remind all of us that there is much more involved in becoming and preparing teachers than our current teacher education programs would like to think.