As part of his 2012 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama emphasized the theme “teachers matter.” Highlighting the impact, both in terms of learning and lifetime earning, a great teacher can have on a student, Obama called for incentivizing, supporting, and empowering truly great teachers.

With most such rhetorical flourishes, the devil is always in the details. SOTUs are often light on substance, with specific policy recommendations to follow. But as part of this year’s speech, the White House also released its blueprint(PDF) for actually doing what it calls for.

So what does the Obama Administration intend to do to “attract, prepare, support, and reward great teachers”? Specifically, it is offering up five recommendations:

• Reform colleges of education, while making these schools more selective;
• Create new career ladders for teachers to become more effective, and ensure that earnings are tied more closely to performance;
• Establish more leadership roles and responsibilities for teachers in running schools; improve professional development and time for collaboration among teachers; and provide greater individual and collective autonomy in the classroom in exchange for greater accountability;
• Create evaluation systems based on multiple measures, rather than just test scores; and
• Re-shape tenure to raise the bar, protect good teachers, and promote accountability.

With such an emphasis on teachers (and we probably should instead be focusing on educators, so that principals and other building-level personnel are included in the process), it is natural that we focus on inputs like teachers’ colleges and on processes like career ladders. But if we are serious about attracting, retaining, and supporting great teachers in the classroom, doesn’t part of the discussion have to key in on professional development, particularly PD beyond a traditional career ladder?

The President is correct: “Teaching is a profession and should be treated like one.” To do that, we need to seriously address the standards and supports that ensure all educators are teaching effectively and growing professionally in our increasingly digital world. If we want effective educators in every classroom, if we want all students learning and graduating from high school, we have little choice but to equip and empower all educators with the skills and knowledge necessary to lead an effective 21st century education.

How do we do it? One can look to resources like the ISTE NETS to serve as a guide. The White House is now talking about establishing “a new competitive program that will challenge states and districts to work with their teachers and unions to comprehensively reform the teaching profession.” Undoubtedly, this competitive program will focus on the five principles outlined above. But what if one of the components was the adoption of results-based standards and professional development, a la NETS? It seems if we are serious about having truly excellent educators in our classrooms, we need clear standards for what that means, and even stronger systems on which to base meaningful professional development and supports for those in the classroom.

Patrick Riccards authors the blog Eduflack. The views expressed here are his own.