No Child Left Behind (NCLB)--the sweeping federal law that requires all schools that receive federal Title I dollars to be held strictly accountable for student outcomes--is the most discussed education reform effort in the past half century. One of the many controversial and vexing elements of the law, especially among teachers, teacher unions, and other school officials is the "highly qualified teacher" provision, which uses the lever of federal education dollars to force states to raise teacher standards. In this article, the author explores the controversy surrounding this effort with a specific focus on how the pursuit of teaching quality in NCLB has simultaneously tapped into the longstanding resistance to blaming teachers for their students' lack of progress, the debate over the importance of content knowledge or pedagogy to teacher quality, and the fight over federal influence on state and local education systems.