The relocation of teacher preparation to "new graduate schools of education" (nGSEs) is a highly controversial "innovation" within the rapidly expanding field of teacher education. This introductory article to a guest-edited issue of "The New Educator" focused on nGSEs defines teacher preparation at nGSEs and analyzes their characteristics. The article identifies the intersecting political, professional, and policy contexts and conditions out of which teacher preparation at nGSEs emerged, pointing out that popular and professional reactions and responses to this innovation have been extremely mixed. The article also provides information about the design of the larger study from which all the articles in the issue draw.