The "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" examines what is arguably the single most powerful authority over the teaching profession: state government. This New York edition of the National Council on Teacher Quality's (NCTQ's) "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" is the first of what will be an annual look at the status of state policies impacting the teaching profession. It is hoped that this report will help focus attention on areas where state policymakers could make improvements to benefit both students and teachers. This policy evaluation is broken down into six areas that include a total of 27 goals. Broadly, these goals examine the impact of state policy on the preparation, certification, licensure, compensation and effectiveness of teachers across the elementary, secondary and special education spectra. New York's progress toward meeting these goals is summarized. Overall, New York has done a good job in meeting some of NCTQ's goals, but there is significant room for improvement in several areas. New York completely missed seven goals, met a small portion of five, partially met six, nearly met six and fully met three--including one best practice designation. The state especially stands out for its professional knowledge framework for teachers, which has clarity and specificity that distinguishes it as one of the best sets of standards in the country. This policy is recognized as a best practice model for other states. The state, however, still has work to do to improve its teacher preparation, including that of special education teachers. New York should do more to ensure that new teachers know the science of reading instruction. The state should also require undergraduate teacher preparation programs to administer a basic skills test as a criterion for admission, and it should base its approval of teacher preparation programs on measures that focus on the quality of the teachers coming out of the programs. The body of the report provides a more detailed breakdown of the state's strengths and weaknesses in each area. Detailed rationale and "Food for Thought" for each area and corresponding goal are appended. (Contains 72 figures.) [Additional funding for this first edition of the "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" was provided by the Achelis Foundation, Bodman Foundation, Daniel's Fund, Fisher Family Foundation, Gleason Foundation, and The Teaching Commission. This state report is part of NCTQ's State Teacher Policy Yearbook series. For the national summary, see ED506661.]