This paper examines Kate Walsh's Abell Foundation report, which purports to prove there is no credible research supporting the use of teacher certification as a regulatory barrier to teaching and argues against reforms that would strengthen incentives to bring qualified teaches to inner city schools. This paper discusses inaccuracies in Walsh's account, actual findings of many studies it purports to review, and findings from other studies Walsh's report ignores. Five major issues this paper addresses are: evidence about student learning in reading and other areas that is ignored; unfounded claims; misrepresentations of research; methodological issues and double standards in using research; and illogical policy conclusions. This paper asserts that Walsh has dismissed or misreported much of the existing evidence base in order to argue that teacher education makes no difference to teacher performance or student learning and that students would be better off without state efforts to regulate entry into teaching or to provide support for teachers' learning. While Walsh's proposal is couched as the elimination of barriers to teaching, evidence suggests that lack of preparation actually contributes to high attrition rates and thereby becomes a disincentive to long-term teaching commitments and the creation of a stable, high ability teaching force (which leads to lower learning levels). (Contains 89 references.) (SM)