The 1996 publication of the National Science Education Standards (NSES) has had a profound effect on curriculum development, assessment of student learning, and pre-service teacher education. One consequence of this at the state level has been the abandonment of permanent certification for K-12 teachers in favor of renewable licensure. Ohio and Pennsylvania now require secondary teachers to earn an M.S. within ten years of their B.S. However, the NSES for professional development have yet to receive emphasis and priority in implementation equal to that given the content standards. For high school chemistry teachers, existing M.S. programs fail to meet the NSES professional development guidelines. This report outlines a vision for a new kind of masters' degree, tailored to the needs and talents of high school chemistry teachers, which provides for integration of both pedagogical knowledge and content knowledge (chemistry). The program empowers teachers with the skills necessary for continual professional development throughout their careeers by using action research in the high school classroom. Graduate courses in chemistry education research, including an extensive annotated bibliography, and early evaluation results are reported.