New tougher admission requirements for incoming teaching students at SUNY colleges and universities have been adopted.

This fulfills part of the New NY Education Reform Commission recommendation for the SUNY and CUNY teacher and principal preparation programs.

SUNY colleges have over 17 teacher preparation programs, including that at SUNY Potsdam, and supplies about a quarter of New York State’s teachers.

The measure was recommended to the governor by the education panel and was included in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s State of then State Address early this year.

The standard requires an entry assessment, such as the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) to verify that candidates are truly top tier and academically competitive with all graduate students, regardless of their intended profession.

In addition, SUNY will raise the admissions requirement for teacher and principal preparation programs to a minimum GPA of 3.0.

A member of the governor’s press staff said the requirements will be used for both undergraduate and graduate admission. High school students can qualify by being in the top 30 percent of students, according to the spokesman.

This action to adopt both recommendations from the Commission is a large step forward in ensuring that top tier candidates are being placed in front of our students, according to the announcement.

While the world’s best performing school systems often recruit their teachers and principals from among their top high school and college students, only about 30 percent of the teachers in the U.S. come from the top third of their college graduating class. In countries with the strongest education systems, teacher candidates come from the top 10 percent of their high school or college graduating class.