David Yastremski communicates in this essay that over his past 23 years as a high school English and communication teacher, all in the same suburban high school in New Jersey, he has seen a dramatic shift in his experience of how the role of teacher has been and is considered and valued within society. Over time, he began seeing the changes that first encouraged and eventually increased standardization of the practice of teaching. Yastremski writes that the ever increasing level of standardization, control of creativity, and questioning of professional experience that has developed over the past 30 years has resulted in a PK-12 educational system that minimizes and deskills teachers. He reflects here upon the impact of standardization on teacher agency and efficacy, the increasing teacher turnover and polarization of the profession, and discusses how researchers can begin to investigate the role of communication studies for the teachers and communities who are currently struggling.