Australia needs to more effectively attract, train, support, retain, recognize, and reward quality teachers throughout their careers. After a slow start and decades of debate, the pieces of the quality teaching puzzle are now coming together. Increased federal government intervention and financial support, along with state and territorial support and compliance, is driving educational change at a scope and pace not seen previously. A common, national testing regime has already highlighted pockets of under (and over) performance and more sharply revealed the landscape of student achievement. After decades of discussion and debate, a national K-12 national curriculum will be introduced in 2011. A "My School" website reports testing results and other school data for every primary and secondary school in the country. And--going to the heart of improving the quality of teaching in Australia--national teaching standards, tied to compensation levels, have been introduced, with several levels of certification and a requirement for ongoing professional learning. (Contains 1 figure and 13 endnotes.)