This report describes the development of teacher certification in America, arguing that changes in and debates about teacher certification have revolved around four clusters of questions: who should control teacher licensing; the proper basis for making decisions about assuring teacher competence in individual cases; elements of teacher training courses; and how detailed and specific licensing systems should be. Three sections describe: (1) "Teacher Certification and Training in the Nineteenth Century" (e.g., who licensed, who trained teachers, different training regimens for urban and rural teachers, teachers' educational attainment, which knowledge was examined, politics of education, looking to Europe, and New York state); (2) "Teacher Certification and the Educational Trust" (e.g., the rise of administrative progressives, progressives target teacher certification, state control, from normal schools to teachers' colleges, schools and colleges of education, increases in formal training requirements, and decline of certification by examination); and (3) "The War and Post-war Years" (e.g., the National Commission on Teacher Education and Professional Standards, the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education, educationists versus critics of American education, classroom teachers aligned with liberal arts departments, criticism from liberal arts faculty, revising the credentialing system, and unified professional collapses). Contains 79 notes. (SM)