The education research community has spent years debating the value of teacher education and professional development programs and their impact on teaching effectiveness and student achievement. These debates will no doubt intensify as Congress turns its attention this year to reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. School reformers and policy analysts are often at odds over the best means to identify talented teachers and improve teaching effectiveness. Debates rage among analysts as well as researchers over the extent to which teachers are prepared before they enter teaching and what counts in order for a new recruit to be deemed qualified and licensed to teach. However, the overwhelming evidence reveals that high-quality pre-service training increases new teacher retention and improves their effectiveness. Granted, given a more mobile 21st century workforce, teaching must draw on new recruits who enter from multiple pathways and earn their "stripes" on multiple timelines. In the past, both teacher education and professional development has suffered from a one-size-fits-all approach that does not accommodate the difference in knowledge and skills of different recruits and veterans alike. But while individuals might make preparation pathways more accessible, preparation for the teaching profession cannot and should not inherently be an "easier" process unless they want to undercut teacher effectiveness entirely. This policy brief considers the ways in which effective professional learning opportunities lay the groundwork for effective teaching.