Under The No Child Left Behind act, beginning mathematics teachers in New York City find themselves at the crossroad of multi-level educational policies that span the different domains of the teaching profession, from the recruitment and support process to accountability, standards and assessment requirements, to pedagogical models and the teaching practices in the classroom. In this research the author provides the beginning teachers' perspectives on their experiences as they face some of these policies as --novices? in the context of a New York City classroom. The data reported here suggest a dissonance among the various policies and confirm how high stake test are narrowing the mathematics curriculum and how teachers filter the policy messages according to their priorities and experiences.