Legislative and programmatic efforts to improve teacher quality have become a major focus of state policymaking in recent years. States have employed numerous strategies in response to concerns about the preparation, quantity, and capacity of the teacher workforce. In this chapter, the authors introduce conceptual frameworks for understanding state policies aimed at improving teacher quality and provide examples of the teaching policy environments in four states. Furthermore, they provide an analysis of Title II of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) by exploring the recent history of federal teacher quality efforts and reviewing the 2002 Title II legislation and related documents. In the final section, they build on their analyses of state and federal efforts by discussing the emerging critical issues in light of the pressures associated with the accountability measures posed by NCLB. The authors conclude the chapter with guidelines for enhancing the design of state and federal policies for improving teacher quality. (Contains 2 figures and 13 notes.)