New York’s education reforms have left teachers feeling attacked and maligned by the system.

Elizabeth Ganga, Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy and Mareesa Nicosia write at The Journal News:

Education reform has teachers feeling under attack

Teachers are feeling under-appreciated and under attack.

A series of education reform proposals under consideration in Albany, along with an increased focus on testing and teacher evaluation, have left them feeling like they are being blamed for a widespread failure of the education system in New York State.

There’s a feeling that mandates from on high are intruding into their classrooms, robbing them of control over how they teach, and it crosses districts and counties; high- and low-performing districts; rural, suburban and urban schools. For 12 teachers with more than 225 years of experience The Journal News talked to over the last several days, it all adds up to low morale.

“It’s discouraging. You put a lot of time and effort into what you do. In the classroom, things are great. You’re building positive relationships with students and parents,” said Dan Johnson, a chemistry teacher at Suffern High School in the Ramapo Central district. “None of that is mentioned in the political discussion. You hear that schools are failing and that we’ve got to get rid of these bad teachers.”

Many teachers feel defeated, Gibney said, but younger teachers are panicked by the pressure to teach to the test. They face the dilemma of whether to sell out their students to protect their careers, she said. As a veteran teacher, Gibney said she refuses to change her methods; she keeps tables in her English classroom, though many other teachers have brought in rows of desks that facilitate testing.

“I refuse to make my classroom a test-prep center,” she said.