Having a good teacher can improve the life of a student far beyond school. How can we ensure that every student has a good teacher and receives high-quality instruction? The challenge is that, for the most part, the institutions governing teacher-training organizations are not governed by the bodies charged with overseeing K-12 public education. The challenge in the United States is aligning the needs of K-12 schools with the programs responsible for training teachers, the majority of which are located in colleges and universities. Getting those at the helm of these two separate but interconnected systems--K-12 schools and higher education--to talk to each other is often challenging, because in most states each system is regulated and governed by different authorities that are not required to share or collaborate to improve education for children. Examples are provided for three states (Louisiana, New York and Texas) where there have been efforts to more closely align the work of preparing teachers with the authorities in charge of K-12 education.