Following the 1998 Green Paper on teachers' work, the UK government introduced Threshold Assessment of teachers in England and Wales in 2000. Teachers who met the Threshold standards were rewarded with a pay rise and access to an upper pay spine. At the time ministers gave assurances that equal opportunities would be taken very seriously in the implementation of the policy. Drawing on a study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC R000239286), this article examines the extent to which these assurances were carried through, with particular regard to the monitoring of applications and success rates by the ethnicity of the candidates. Major deficiencies are identified in the manner in which Threshold Assessment has been managed. These deficiencies are thrown into stark relief by the subsequent enacting of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, which requires all public bodies to carry out systematic ethnic monitoring. (Contains 12 notes.)