This book documents six exemplary teacher preparation programs participating in school-university partnerships in an effort to examine issues of standards in teacher education. It describes how attention to standards has played out in contrasting demographic, political, and intellectual contexts. The authors reveal the realities and consequences involved in the complex process of implementing standards in varied program contexts often having to reconcile external mandates with the needs of their students and their own program values. Working in pairs, teacher educators formed critical friend research partnerships focused on assessment, inquiry, equity, diversity, and technology. Institutional partnerships discussed include: The University of Louisville with University of Southern Maine; Teachers College, Columbia University with University of California, Santa Barbara; and University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee with Wheelock College.