No Child Left Behind? The True Story of a Teacher's Quest (Paperback)

~ Elizabeth Blake (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Anyone interested in America's current state of public education should read this book. It puts faces on children left behind. --Patrick Blake, New York based producer of the critically acclaimed, award winning plays The Exonerated and In the Continuum.

In No Child Left Behind? The True Story of a Teacher's Quest, Ms. Blake tells of her decision to leave a well-established career and take on an incredible challenge teaching in a school for at-risk students. She is appalled at the lack of support from some administrators, but encouraged by the shared commitment of other colleagues. She is moved by the needs of students headed toward failure, losing some but saving others. This is a compelling message about one woman's vision, that no child be left behind. --JoAnn V. Cleland, Ed.D. Professor Emeritus of Reading Education, Arizona State University at the West Campus

In No Child Left Behind?, Elizabeth Blake gives an honest and courageous assessment of her years teaching science to at-risk students. Blake, who currently creates science materials for homeschoolers, has provided a moving account of her passion for teaching at-risk students. --Joan Prefontaine, Biography/Memoir reviewer, Suite101.com

Product Description

Elizabeth Blake's search for her life's purpose takes her into the violent, emotional world of inner-city high schools as a science teacher. "No Child Left Behind? The true story of a teacher's quest" explores her inspirational fight for students others have left behind.

Despite struggling with the stress of gangs, drugs, shootings and uncooperative administrators, the students capture her heart. While she searches for a way to reach them, they teach her to become a wiser, stronger person.

Her final quest turns to discovering God's purpose for sending her on this difficult, and at times frightening, journey.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 218 pages
• Publisher: Hudson House Publishing (July 23, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587768798
• ISBN-13: 978-1587768798
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #456,915 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Children AND teachers left behind, September 29, 2009

By	Roy Pickering "Roy L. Pickering Jr. - Author ... (NJ) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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Education reform is front and foremost in people's mind as our new President and his adminstration grapple to determine what measures will be most effective, and what steps will be affordable in this time of recession. Obama recently stated that American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe. This is a debatable statement since while it is true that kids in many other countries have more school days, it's not true they all spend more time in school. But it is valid to say that in the United States there are many examples of gains when time is added to the school day, and as result, many schools are going beyond the traditional summer school model in which schools give remedial help to kids who flunked or fell behind. Summer is a crucial time for kids, especially poorer kids, because poverty is linked to various problems that interfere with learning. No Child Left Behind? The True Story of a Teacher's Quest by Elizabeth Blake is a memoir about a woman who for 3 difficult years taught in a school district with focus on education for "at risk" students. As a middle aged white woman, to a degree it is a fish out of water story. Mrs. Blake is not from the world inhabited by the students she tries with varying degrees of success to teach, but she takes the plunge and gives a laudable effort. The cover copy led me to believe this book would be comparable to movies I had seen about education in inner city schools such as Lean on me, Stand and Deliver, Dangerous Minds, etc. But that did not really turn out to be the case, because those stories which received Hollywood treatment had a substantial degree of stability to the narratives. They were each focused on a single class, or a single school, and the events to unfold took place over the course of at least a full semester. As viewer you grew attached to the teachers/principals/students because a fair amount of time was vested in them. Due to what struck me as an incredibly ineffective education set-up, Mrs. Blake only gets to be with a particular group of students for 7-week blocks of time. She is just beginning to get to know some of the students in a class when time is up and she must move on to the next one. On top of that, she doesn't even have the luxury of remaining at a single school. Against her wishes she ends up teaching at no less than 3 schools over the course of 3 years. With such lack of continuity, "No Child Left Behind?" has no opportunity to be a character study with the exception of Mrs. Blake. Rather, this compelling memoir is an observation and indictment of a particular American school district which most likely does not stand alone in its callous inadequacies. We learn a bit about the sampling of students she chooses to zero in on, and some of them are indeed dangerous "bad seeds". But considering the bizarre ineptitude exhibited by several of her supervisors, people shown to have total disregard not only for the student body but also for the teachers trying in vain to make a difference, and it's no wonder that a bad situation is set up to only get worse. Mrs. Blake is a determined woman with deep faith in God and conviction in her goal not to abandon the children who need her guidance, but within 3 years she is burned out and understandably leaves the school system behind her. Towards the end she quotes Gandhi: "You may never know what results come from your actions. But if you do nothing, there will be no result." One wonders if Gandhi himself would have been able to remain in that school district much longer than did Mrs. Blake. She cites the chilling statistics that up to 50% of new teachers will leave the profession within their first five years, estimating that in her school district it was more like 90%. Yet the tone of her memoir is not one of bitterness, but of hope that change will someday come; satisfaction that she did do something to help as many kids succeed as she was somehow able to reach; and gratitude that in the process of affecting their lives they blessed her own.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important book, February 17, 2009

By	teacherkh "teacherspeakingtruth" (Illinois) - See all my reviews

Elizabeth Blake's book brings the reader to the threshold of what is really going on in education and helps the reader understand why our schools are not working. This "tell-all about education" is a new genre because most teachers are afraid to speak about the wrongdoing they encounter. Hopefully, with more books speaking out about a shameful practice going on in our schools, the public will finally figure out how to stop it. The greed in education mirrors the greed in our financial institutions and she has given the reader a glimpse of how self serving administrators do not care about the children, the parents, the teachers, or about education.

Her story is even more compelling since science teachers are allegedly in short supply. This, as much else filtered through tax subsidized propaganda, is not true. What is in short supply in education is integrity! Take a look at another dedicated science teacher's dark journey:
Guilty Until Proven Innocent: A Teaching Experience

I have pointed out several other books that help to teach the truth about our schools. Until the public learns that Blake's story is not so unusual and that many administrators encourage these practices, those in power will continue to have their way with our schools! Please check these out.

White Chalk Crime: The REAL Reason Schools Fail: Untold story of crime that has destroyed our schools and how teacher abuse and teacher cleansing have kept this from you

Breaking the Silence: Overcoming the Problem of Principal Mistreatment of Teachers

School Corruption: Betrayal of Children and the Public Trust

The Black Hole in the Blueprint: Teacher Abuse in San Diego City Schools

Beware The Sharks In Education: A Teacher's Perspective

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Victims of Education, November 5, 2009

By	Sunkist in Florida - See all my reviews

As a former school administrator who has also experienced what this author wrote about, I relish this book. Blake writes an informative account of the victims of education: students, parents, administrators, and teachers. Until we as caring citizens do something about bringing back a change to the way we teach our children, I'm afraid it will continue to get worse.

Thank goodness for people like this author who has been willing to make a public stand. It's a brave one, and, hopefully, somebody up there listens and asks "what on earth are we doing to our children"?

Good book! I HIGHLY recommend it!