What can Albany be thinking?!

An extraordinary teacher I know wrote this poem after she heard about changing the weight of tests in a teacher evaluations to 40%. I asked her if I could post it so it could weigh as heavily on everyone's heart as it does on mine.

Sad Reality

wonder
who will teach them now
the now
where 40percent of
your eval
depends on their evals
no not evals just the data
the numbers
children
seen as products

so who will teach those who are
slow to trust
slow to process
slow to show
results
in data form

would I tolerate
the injustice of
being measured by that
instead of what really developed
the trust
the strategies
the motivation
to become
a lifelong learner
but not within 8 months until the
TESTS
but with another teacher
who got to
open the “jar”
after all your first moves

with you they started
to walk the walk of a student
competency
came as a result
but later later later.

whatever,
even Ms. Rozin
would have to choose
the gifted,
as is her degree,
to pay to her bills
in the business man’s model for
educating America.

— Muriel Rozin