Teacher preparation programs (TPPs) are where prospective teachers gain a foundation of knowledge about pedagogy and subject matter, as well as early exposure to practical classroom experience. Although competence in teaching, as in all professions, is shaped significantly by on-the-job experiences and continuous learning, the programs that prepare teachers to work in K-12 classrooms can be early and important contributors to the quality of instruction. Evaluating the quality and effectiveness of TPPs is a necessary ingredient to improved teaching and learning. Many aspects of the relationship between teacher preparation and instructional quality are not fully understood, and existing approaches to TPP evaluation are complex, varied, and fragmented. Designers and consumers of TPP evaluations could benefit from clear information about the purposes, effects, strengths, and limitations of current evaluation approaches and from guidance for designing and using future evaluations. This report, the product of an analysis by a committee of the National Academy of Education, aims to fill that need. This report is organized into the following sections: (1) Introduction: Purposes, Context, and Principles; (2) The Landscape of Teacher Preparation Program Evaluation; (3) Program Evaluation: Mapping Approaches to Purposes; and (4) Designing, Using, and Interpreting Teacher Preparation Program Evaluations: Toward A Decision Framework. The following are appended: (1) Workshop Agendas and Participants; and (2) Biographical Sketches of Steering Committee Members.