Budget deals emerge
"Governor Cuomo
wreaking vengeance"
Diane Ravitch writes.
Elected officials
making decisions
not qualified to make.
Tests to decide
the effective teacher
and the ineffective one.
Heart sinks.
What else can I do?
I'm a teacher.
I was born to teach.
It's all I've hoped to be.
If I am found ineffective
due to independent evaluators
who don't know me
don't know my heart
my experience
my work ethic
my continual search
to be better
where will I go?
If test scores
are the focus
and my job is
on the line,
is it a job
I really want
to do anymore?
When my family
depends on me,
will I need
to play the game?
To get my paycheck?
To pay our mortgage?
How will I face
the young faces
in front of me
who are more
than any test
will ever say?
Sadness today
in New York
Our letters
our phone calls
our pleas
in the end
didn't matter.
Money wins
again.
Tomorrow
I take down
my charts
their name tags
anything that
could be helpful
on "the test."
Weeks lost
to make Pearson
billions
and tell me nothing
I don't already know.
Weeks lost
to prove accountability
to elected officials
who never seem
to be accountable
to anyone.
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