423 What Really Matters for Literacy Teacher Preparation? Victoria J. Risko, Louann Reid Realizing the power of excellence in literacy teacher education requires a commitment to programs that ensure equal access to high-quality preparation for all prospective teachers. A s educators, we hold firm beliefs about teach- ing and teacher preparation. These beliefs are often expressed quite directly, as when we claim that high-quality literacy teachers beget high- quality literacy instruction and, by association, the quality of teachers depends on the quality of their preparation. Too frequently, policymakers blame teacher prep- aration programs for ineffective literacy instruction. Also, too frequently, we as literacy teacher educators fail to advance what we know about optimal prac- tices that support the process of learning to teach in pre-K–12 classrooms. In this article, we as coauthors argue that the teachers who are likely to be the most successful in their classrooms are those who have had the great- est access to high-quality teacher preparation. Such access holds promise to reach the goal of all stu- dents having access to the best teachers possible. Drawing on an extensive analysis of literacy teacher preparation research (International Literacy Association [ILA] & National Council of Teachers of English [NCTE], 2017), we examine the role access plays in preparing prospective teachers for effective literacy instruction. This research provides an en- try into the common goal of taking a “chance to get [this] right” (Dennis, 2017, p. 395) and to engage edu- cators in collective conversations about what we be- lieve are “core features that all [literacy] programs should have” (Martin & Mulvihill, 2017, p. 81). Quality Indicators of Literacy Teacher Preparation It is an important time in the history of teacher education to consider what makes a difference in teacher preparation, especially in the preparation of teachers who will support their students’ literacy development. The identification of quality attributes and their impact on prospective teachers’ learning is central to designing well-conceived literacy teacher education courses and programs. Building on a long history of fostering literacy teach- er education research, Marcie Craig Post, executive director of ILA, and Kent Williamson, then executive director of NCTE, established a task force of literacy and English teacher education scholars to develop a narrative that counters mistaken claims about literacy teacher education. As Williamson explained, “In policy circles and editorials, the same litany of untruths is re- peated—the field isn’t changing, they resist innovation and any form of assessment, teacher preparation does nothing to get professionals ready for the classroom” (K. Williamson, personal communication, August 25, 2014). In contrast, there is substantial evidence to counter deficit views of literacy teacher education. As cochairs of this task force, we authored the research advisory Literacy Teacher Preparation (ILA & NCTE, 2017) in collaboration with the other task force members, James Hoffman, Luke Rodesiler, Allison Skerrett, and William Teale, and with contri- butions from Melanie Shoffner and Vivian Vasquez. We reported on a convergence of evidence support- ing links between preparatory practices and out- comes of teacher learning and teacher practice. The practices that we identified in the research advisory and in this article have a history of dem- onstrated effectiveness across coursework and pro- grams and hold promise to be sustainable and to THE INSIDE TRACK The Reading Teacher Vol. 72 No. 4 pp. 423–429 doi:10.1002/trtr.1769 © 2019 International Literacy Association Victoria J. Risko is a professor emerita in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA; email victoria.j.risko@vanderbilt.edu. Louann Reid is a professor in and the chair of the Department of English at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, USA; email louann.reid@colostate.edu.