the unanimous consensus of a 15-member committee of scholars. The report does not document all of the literature and testimony the committee reviewed, nor does it fully chronicle the committee’s deliberations. The committee viewed its mission as one of analyzing and distilling the primary and secondary literature and other direct evidence to produce a summary report useful to policy makers and other audiences.

Chapter 2 describes the knowledge, skills, abilities, and dispositions that competent teachers demonstrate. In Chapter 3 current systems for licensing teacher candidates and the licensure tests that states use are described. Included are case studies of initial teacher licensing in several states. Chapter 4 presents the committee’s framework for evaluating teacher licensure tests. Chapter 5 uses the framework to examine several widely used tests. Chapter 6 examines the extent to which tests can and cannot improve teacher competence and supply. Chapter 7 examines the newly enacted Title II, the Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants for States and Partnerships, and discusses the use of licensure test results for program accountability. Chapter 8 presents options for improving the assessment of teacher candidates. The report ends with the committee’s recommendations for policy makers, teacher testers, and teacher educators regarding the use of existing tests to assess teacher candidates and to evaluate teacher preparation.