This study explores the discourses used to frame and implement standards for teacher preparation in the United States as developed by the National Council of Teachers of English. Using Critical Discourse Analysis and theories from the New Literacy Studies as lenses, Dr. Burns explores and explains the policy processes used by professional educators to govern their work. He offers research-based critiques of the ways policy language used in teaching and teacher education empower and (more often) impede individuals' ability to utilize their professional knowledge and exercise political power as...