Schools will only be "outstanding" if their teaching is, Sir Michael Wilshaw confirmed.
In his first major speech he said "we have tolerated mediocrity for too long" and radical improvements were needed.
Teaching unions have accused him of "trashing the school system".
A new framework for Ofsted inspections came in last month which ended regular inspections for outstanding schools.
Now schools with this highest overall rating but which did not get top marks for teaching face being re-inspected.
In his speech at a school in London, in front of heads from outstanding schools, Sir Michael said: "I believe we need radical improvements to the education system in this country.
"My view is that we have tolerated mediocrity for far too long - it has settled in to the system."
Sir Michael told the BBC the new inspection framework would "focus on what really matters - the quality of teaching".
"I don't see how you achieve outstanding status unless the quality of teaching is also outstanding," he said.
The new framework slimmed down the areas on which schools are measured from 27 to four categories.
No-notice inspections
Sir Michael has formally set out other changes he plans to make by the autumn in a consultation paper published on Thursday.
A big change is a move to "no-notice" inspections.
At the moment, most schools are told a few days before an inspection when inspectors are coming in.
Critics of the system complain this notice prevents inspectors from seeing schools as they really are and some have accused schools of "bussing out" challenging pupils by sending them on day trips.
Heads said the notice gave them the chance to pull together all the data inspectors would want to see and arrange cover for staff the inspectors might want to talk to.
Another change proposed is the scrapping of the "satisfactory" label.
This would mean there would be three possible gradings - outstanding, good and "requires improvement" - instead of the current four.
Sir Michael told BBC Radio 4's Today programme "satisfactory" was no longer good enough.
"All parents want their children to go to good schools," he said.
"If a school is not good it will be placed in a category requiring improvement. If it does not improve, it will end up in special measures."
He said 6,000 schools were currently graded as "satisfactory" and too many of these were "coasting".
Sir Michael said he wanted all schools to be good schools: "This is about a step change. We want to make sure we move things further forward for this nation and that the gap between best and worst and richest and poorest closes.
"These have not closed as much as they should have."
Chris Keates, the general secretary of the NASUWT, said Sir Michael's comments called in to question "every Ofsted judgement which has ever been made on any school".
"He is trashing the school system, trashing the reputation of Ofsted and removing anything that parents can rely on by which to judge a school.
"This is puerile game-playing at expense of schools, their teachers and pupils.
"The secretary of state's strategy of letting outstanding schools automatically become academies is now in tatters."
BBc Education News 9th February 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16944877
Added on: 09/02/2012