Linda Darling-Hammond is the Charles E. Ducommum Professor of Teaching and Teacher Education at Stanford University and served as co-chair, with John Bransford, of the National Academy of Education's Committee on Teacher Education.

Joan Baratz-Snowden is director of Educational Issues at the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). She was vice president for Education Policy and Reform and for Assessment and Research at the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

Since 1965, the National Academy of Education (NAE) has sought to advance the highest quality education research and its use in policy formation and practice. NAE is an honorary membership society of the most respected scholars of education from the U.S. and other countries. In addition to this book, the Academy sponsored Preparing Teachers for a Changing World, which provides the research foundations for the recommendations contained here.