More so than ever before, policymakers and the public believe the fate of American public education rests with teachers. Over the last 15 years, study after study points to the powerful effects of qualified teachers and quality teaching on student achievement. However, poor children and those of color are still far less likely to be taught by good teachers--no matter how "good" is defined. Unfortunately, little consensus exists among researchers and policymakers on how to define a qualified teacher and how to most effectively identify and reward effective teachers. This "TeacherSolutions" report, written by a team of 10 highly successful National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs), brings unique ideas to the debate over identifying effective teachers. It is aimed at helping policymakers learn from--and with--some of our nation's best classroom educators. This report unpacks the research on the National Board Certification process in ways that traditional education researchers and labor economists just do not know how to do. The report attempts to determine the effects the national standards and certification process has had on teachers, both as a policy initiative and as a professional growth experience. The report is the first to offer a policy perspective from the point of view of classroom teachers who have sought and earned National Board Certification. Careful examination of the research and the policy landscape surrounding National Board Certification leads to recommendations geared towards three audiences: researchers, policymakers, and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. These recommendations call for: (1) relevant studies to measure the effects of National Board Certification on student learning using multiple measures (e.g., authentic assessments, project-based learning products, student engagement, reduced discipline, drop-out rates) as well as the "snapshot" data resulting from standardized tests; (2) careful researchers to engage NBCTs themselves in the process of research study design and development in order to create more robust research models that include multiple measures of student growth; (3) Policymakers to craft policy around specific goals, such as offering incentives and time for NBCTs to spread their instructional expertise to a wide range of colleagues, rather than focusing on simply producing more National Board Certified Teachers; (4) policymakers, who have already made significant investments in National Board Certification in many jurisdictions, to advocate for the expansion of leadership opportunities for all NBCTs and emphasize programs that increase the population of NBCTs who are teachers of color; (5) NBPTS to engage in strategic partnering and communications that would make the mission, vision and work of NBPTS transparent to researchers, policymakers, and the general public; and (6) NBPTS to consider how education leaders can be made more cognizant of the potential power of the certification process to spread teaching expertise. (Contains 6 notes.)