This publication presents papers given at a 1998 joint meeting of the American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association which focused on teacher quality. One common thread of this conference was criticism of the growing practice of granting emergency certification to unprepared or underprepared teachers. The papers address how to keep high standards and still hire enough top-quality teachers. The papers include: "Teacher Quality and Professional Unionism" (Sandra Feldman); "The Union as a Professional Lifeline" (Bob Chase); "Building a National Partnership for Teacher Quality" (Richard W. Riley); "Organizing around Quality" (Julia E. Koppich and Charles Taylor Kerchner); "Professional Development is the Job" (Anthony Alvarado); "The Implications of TIMSS for Teacher Quality" (William H. Schmidt); and " A Caring, Competent, Qualified Teacher for Every Child" (Linda Darling-Hammond). (SM)