In an important move, the U.S. Department of Education has recognized the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) as an accrediting agency for teacher preparation programs. This distinction assures the quality of its standards and process to the public and seems destined to make TEAC a viable alternative to NCATE (the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education), whose accreditation process is often criticized for being unwieldy and excessively focused on inputs. With a membership of 100 institutions, TEAC is tiny in comparison to NCATE, but maintains the advantage that it places far more emphasis on solid evidence that its accredited institutions produce student achievement gains.