Lawmakers face the challenge of strengthening the teaching workforce by supporting and demanding excellence. The purpose of this report is to acquaint state legislators with the goals and activities of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) and to underscore the ways in which state legislatures might work with the NBPTS to help create a high-quality teacher workforce. The mission of the National Board, established in 1987, is to assess teachers in a new, voluntary certification process that is meant to complement rather than to replace current licensing requirements. The NBPTS certification system involves three elements: (1) standards (establishing professional consensus about what teachers should know and be able to do); (2) assessment (providing a valid and accessible means to evaluate teachers against the standards); and (3) professional development (providing teachers with the opportunity to strengthen their practice through self-examination). Implications for state legislatures include: the potential to provide a fair and legitimate means of recognizing excellence in teaching; the encouragement of teachers to apply for National Board certification by offering salary incentives; and enabling nationally certified teachers to circumvent the licensing procedure in a state-to-state transfer. (LL)