• Editorial Reviews

Review 
"Boland has a knack for capturing the stakes in seemingly small moments and the intensity of clashes between personalities. Ruthless in his evaluation of himself, his students, and the larger educational system, Boland provides a clear look at the challenges facing public schools today."―Booklist

"Told with compassion and wry humor...the ideal-shattering truths it reveals are important ones for teachers and administrators seeking to reform the urban education system in the United States. An unflinchingly honest account of one man's experiences with inner-city education."―Kirkus

"Captivating, insightful, and instructive...Boland's colorful descriptions let the reader share his experience, living his successes, his growing understanding of his craft and his students, his dissections of days that did not go well, and his efforts to maintain hope."―Library Journal

"The Battle for Room 314 chronicles a year of gladiatorial altruism in the unruly arena of American public education. Ed Boland shares the startling, funny, audacious, and sad confrontations and conundrums he must puzzle his way through after deciding to try his hand at one of the most important, least appreciated professions in this country: teaching. His vivid anecdotes ensure there will be no reader left behind. Like his students, he sometimes fails a test, but he never loses hope, and his story gleams with insight and urgency."―Andrew Solomon, National Book Award winner and author ofFar from the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity

"By turns harrowing and hilarious, Ed Boland's memoir about teaching in a New York City high school is raw, moving, and smashes the dangerous myth of the hero-teacher. The story told in The Battle for Room 314 shows us how high the stakes are for our most vulnerable students, and offers a fresh view and a pointed and powerful first-person perspective on American public education."―Piper Kerman, author of Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison

"Boland has a charming way with words that makes the book entertaining to read, even laugh-out-loud funny-as when he shamefacedly admits to understanding only "Sesame Street Spanish." As his story unfolds, it becomes clear that his snappy approach isn't just stylistic, but actually goes a long way in making the dire situations he describes easier to read about. ...Boland is modest, likable, and realistic about well, reality...The results of his experiment in teaching are dispiriting and absolutely beautiful, in turn."―Utne Reader

"The Battle for Room 314 is a personal account of Ed Boland's jarring foray into the high school classroom from the world of fundraising. With humor, insight, and grim persistence, Boland grapples with the realities of his students' lives as they all face the enduring issue of poverty. This memoir is a humbling reminder that no teacher is an island, and that schools, systems, and communities all share a responsibility to ensure that every child has access to a quality education."―James E. Ryan, Dean, Harvard Graduate School of Education

"In a sea of books in which the conquering hero arrives at an inner city school and magically transforms it, Ed Boland's The Battle for Room 314 is a breath of fresh air. Finally, a book that presents not the panacea but the reality of making schools work in communities where students face the triple challenge of poverty, racism, and violence."―Luis Ubinas, former president, the Ford Foundation

"From laughter to heartbreak, Ed Boland's The Battle for Room 314 is a searing indictment of the current state of urban public schooling. With humor, sensitivity, and sophistication, Boland challenges us to acknowledge and reform our country's starkly bifurcated educational system-and the racial and socioeconomic power structures that back it. Deserving of a place alongside Jonathan Kozol's classic Death At An Early Age, Boland's memoir is an absolute must-read for educators, politicians, and activists."―Dan-el Padilla, author of Undocumented: A Dominican Boy's Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League

"Ed Boland's honesty, heart, and humor left me laughing, crying, shaking my fist in rage (sometimes all at the same time), open-mouthed with his hard-won insights. The Battle for Room 314 punches you right in the heart, and should be read by...everyone."―Marie Myung-Ok Lee, author of Somebody's Daughter

About the Author 
Ed Boland has dedicated his entire professional life to nonprofit causes as a fundraiser and communications expert. He has worked for predominantly educational institutions but also for arts and social service organizations. Boland was an Admissions Officer at his alma mater, Fordham, and later at Yale, and lived in China as a Princeton in Asia Fellow. He is now a senior administrator at the nation's premier educational access program, which places gifted students of color at leading private schools. He lives in New York with his husband.