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believe that this conference can be one of the most important events in American education this decade,” then-U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley told a gathering of over 800 leaders from colleges and universities, school districts, teachers unions, and business and community groups who were active in local partnerships to improve teacher education. “Because right here, right now, you can become the leaders of a movement that can change the face of teaching in the 21st century.” The January 2000 National Conference on Teacher Quality was convened by UWM Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher and her husband, curriculum and instruction Professor Kenneth Howey, who are active and recognized nationally for their efforts in teacher education reform. Of the 166 community partnerships represented at the Washington, D.C. conference, perhaps the most comprehensive and ambitious is the one that Zimpher and Howey are implementing here—the Milwaukee Partnership Academy for Teacher Quality. Schrie Weber, a first-grader in Stephanie Walters' classroom at Hartford Avenue University School in Milwaukee. Photo by Sam Castro. This special issue of Research Profile highlights many of the ways UWM is working with Milwaukee Public Schools and other groups with an interest in public education to better prepare teachers for the challenges of urban education in Milwaukee. Experienced MPS teachers are entering UWM classrooms to share their expertise with education students and to be certified as teacher leaders. Field assignments are being integrated into students’ coursework much earlier than in the past. Other schools and colleges at UWM are tailoring classes in math, science, the arts, and other areas specifically to future teachers. UWM education students are learning to apply the latest in computer technology to classroom settings. Also in this issue, other UWM research that is improving classroom teaching: new ways to teach math and science and integrate computers into instruction, ideas for easing the struggles of beginning special education teachers, and the SAGE class-size reduction program. “Now the challenge is to make sure that there is a talented, dedicated teacher in every classroom,” Riley told the conference in January 2000. “We are falling short of that goal, and that is the problem that we are here to address.”