Bill Text: NY S06351 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to admission requirements for graduate-level teacher and educational leader programs.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - REFERRED TO HIGHER EDUCATION [S06351 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S06351-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          6351

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                     April 23, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen. SANDERS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education

        AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to admission requirements
          for graduate-level teacher and educational leader programs

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Section 210-a of the education law, as amended by chapter
     2  454 of the laws of 2017, is amended to read as follows:
     3    § 210-a. Admission requirements for graduate-level teacher and  educa-
     4  tional  leader  programs.  Each institution registered by the department
     5  with graduate-level teacher and leader education  programs  shall  adopt
     6  rigorous  selection criteria geared to predicting a candidate's academic
     7  success in its program, including but not limited to, a minimum score on
     8  the graduate record examination or a substantially equivalent  admission
     9  examination,  as  determined  by  the  institution, and achievement of a
    10  cumulative grade point average of  3.0  or  higher  in  the  candidate's
    11  undergraduate  program  or  deemed  qualified  by  teacher education and
    12  educational leader faculty to satisfy alternative  criteria,  including,
    13  but  not limited to, the following: 3.0 grade point average in the major
    14  or in the last two years of college or in a graduate degree  program  or
    15  graduate-level  courses  taken  before  matriculation  into  a  graduate
    16  program; or, strength of letters of recommendations from qualified indi-
    17  viduals, number of languages spoken, strength of  a  personal  interview
    18  and quality of a writing sample; provided, however, such graduate record
    19  examination  or  substantially equivalent admission examination require-
    20  ment shall in no case apply to certified teachers or school  administra-
    21  tors who already hold a graduate degree. Each program may exempt no more
    22  than  fifteen  percent  of  any  incoming  class  of  students from such
    23  selection criteria set forth in this section based on a student's demon-
    24  stration of potential to positively contribute to the  teaching  profes-
    25  sion  or  other extenuating circumstances pursuant to the regulations of

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD07726-01-1
        S. 6351                             2

     1  the commissioner. A program shall report to the department the number of
     2  students admitted pursuant to such exemption and the selection  criteria
     3  used for such exemptions.
     4    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.