Welcome to AACTE! As President and CEO, I invite you to learn about and participate in, the work of the new, growing, and changing American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. Our mission is to promote the learning of all PK-12 students through high-quality preparation and continuing education for all school personnel. We are all about Serving Learners.

This is an exciting time for the teacher education profession. Research continues to affirm the seminal importance of teacher quality to a child's learning—and thus the criticality of superior teacher preparation. Our greatest challenge is that of preparing teachers with expertise to accelerate student learning for all learners and ultimately close the minority/majority achievement gap. And, rightly, our member institutions acknowledge accountability for their role in doing so.

I hope you will join us in the challenge of Quality Matters: Our Commitment to All Learners—the theme of our 2008 annual meeting in New Orleans, LA. To realize these visions, our leadership has articulated four strategic goals, which will guide the Association's efforts in upcoming years:

1. Agree on evidence-based statements about educator preparation standards, curriculum, assessment, accountability, and who belongs in the profession;
2. Be a credible voice in state & federal policy-making, advocating for high quality student learning;
3. Build programs' capacity to prepare educators who can teach every child effectively; and
4. Increase the diversity of education candidates; improve curricula so all educators serve diverse learners.

Our strategic goals and membership growth objectives represent a courageous and ambitious agenda. But I am eager to tackle it, as it is truly the right work for the Association. This work positions AACTE as an informed, effective, and passionate advocate for the public policy and institutional capacity required to serve the learners of today and tomorrow.

Please join us in linking arms to serve all learners.