Jaime Escalante
Encyclopedia
Jaime Alfonso Escalante Gutierrez (December 31, 1930 — March 30, 2010) was a Bolivia
n educator well-known for teaching students calculus
from 1974 to 1991 at Garfield High School, East Los Angeles, California
. Escalante was the subject of the 1988
film Stand and Deliver
, in which he is portrayed by Edward James Olmos
.
, Bolivia
.
In 1974 he began teaching at Garfield High School. Escalante was initially so disheartened by the lack of preparation of his students that he called his former employer and asked for his old job back. Escalante eventually changed his mind about returning to work when he found 12 students willing to take an algebra
class.
Shortly after Escalante came to Garfield High, its accreditation became threatened. Instead of gearing classes to poorly performing students, Escalante offered AP Calculus
. He had already earned the criticism of an administrator who disapproved of his requiring the students to answer a homework question before being allowed into the classroom. "He told me to just get them inside," Escalante reported, "but I said, there is no teaching, no learning going on".
Determined to change the status quo, Escalante had to persuade the first few students who would listen to him that they could control their futures with the right education. He promised them that the jobs would be in engineering, electronics and computers but they would have to learn math to succeed. He said to his students "I'll teach you math and that's your language. With that you're going to make it. You're going to college and sit in the first row, not the back, because you're going to know more than anybody".
The school administration opposed Escalante frequently during his first few years. He was threatened with dismissal by an assistant principal because he was coming in too early, leaving too late, and failing to get administrative permission to raise funds to pay for his students' Advanced Placement tests. This opposition changed with arrival of a new principal, Henry Gradillas. Aside from allowing Escalante to stay as a math teacher, Gradillas overhauled the academic curriculum at Garfield, reducing the number of basic math classes and requiring those taking basic math to concurrently take algebra. He denied extracurricular activities to students who failed to maintain a C average and new students who failed basic skill tests. One of Escalante's students remarked about him, "If he wants to teach us that bad, we can learn."
Escalante continued to teach at Garfield, but it was not until 1978 that Escalante would instruct his first calculus class. He hoped that it could provide the leverage to improve lower-level math courses. To this end, Escalante recruited fellow teacher Ben Jiménez and taught calculus to five students, two of whom passed the A.P. calculus test. The following year, the class size increased to nine students, seven of whom passed the A.P. calculus test. By 1981, the class had increased to 15 students, 14 of whom passed. Escalante placed a high priority on pressuring his students to pass their math classes, particularly advanced calculus. He rejected the common practice of ranking students from first to last and instead frequently told his students to press themselves as hard as possible in their assignments.
found these scores to be suspicious, because all of the students made exactly the same math error on problem #6, and also used the same unusual variable names. 14 of those who passed were asked to take the exam again. 12 of the 14 agreed to retake the test and all 12 did well enough to have their scores reinstated. In 1983, the number of students enrolling and passing the A.P. calculus test more than doubled. That year 33 students took the exam and 30 passed. That year Escalante also started teaching calculus at East Los Angeles College
. By 1987, 73 students passed the A.P. calculus
AB exam and another 12 passed the BC version of the test. This was the peak for the calculus program. The same year Gradillas went on sabbatical to finish his doctorate with hopes that he could be reinstated as principal at Garfield or a similar school with similar programs upon his return.
1988 saw the release of a book Escalante: The Best Teacher in America by Jay Mathews and a movie Stand and Deliver
detailing the events of 1982. During this time teachers and other interested observers asked to sit in on his classes. He shared with them: "The key to my success with youngsters is a very simple and time-honored tradition: hard work for teacher and student alike". Escalante received visits from political leaders and celebrities, including then-President Ronald Reagan
and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger
.
Escalante has described the film as "90% truth, 10% drama." He stated that several points were left out of the film:
Over the next few years Escalante's calculus program continued to grow but not without its own price. Tensions that surfaced when his career began at Garfield escalated. In his final years at Garfield, Escalante received threats and hate mail from various individuals. By 1990, he had lost the math department chairmanship. At this point Escalante's math enrichment program had grown to 400+ students. His class sizes had increased to over 50 students in some cases. This was far beyond the 35 student limit set by the teachers' union, which in turn increased criticism of Escalante's work. In 1991, the number of Garfield students taking advanced placement examinations in math and other subjects jumped to 570. That same year, citing faculty politics and petty jealousies, Escalante and Jiménez left Garfield. Escalante found new employment at Hiram W. Johnson High School in Sacramento, California
. At the height of Escalante's influence, Garfield graduates were entering the University of Southern California
in such great numbers that they outnumbered all the other high schools in the working-class East Los Angeles region combined. Even students who failed the AP went on to become star students at California State-Los Angeles in large numbers.
Angelo Villavicencio took the reins of the program after their departure and taught the remaining 107 A.P. students in two classes for the next year. 67 of Villavicencio's students went on to take the A.P. exam and 47 passed. Villavicencio's request for a third class due to class size was denied and the following spring he followed Escalante and quit Garfield. The math program's decline at Garfield became apparent following the departure of Escalante and other teachers associated with its inception and development. In just a few years, the number of A.P. calculus students at Garfield who passed their exams dropped by more than 80 percent. In 1996, Villavicencio contacted Garfield's new principal, Tony Garcia, and offered to come back to help revive the dying calculus program. His offer was rejected.
In 2001, after many years of preparing teenagers for the A.P. calculus exam, Escalante returned to his native Bolivia. He lived in his wife's hometown, Cochabamba
, and taught part time at the local university
. He returned to the United States frequently to visit his children.
, he faced financial difficulties from the cost of his cancer treatment. Cast members from Stand and Deliver
, including Edward James Olmos, and some of Escalante's former pupils, raised funds to help pay for his medical bills.
Jaime Escalante moved to Sacramento, California, to live with his son in the city of Rancho Cordova. He taught at Hiram Johnson High School, a school very similar to Garfield High School. He died on March 30, 2010, aged 79, at his son's home while undergoing treatment for bladder cancer
. He is survived by his wife Fabiola and his sons Fernando and Jaime Jr.
On Thursday April 1, 2010 a memorial service honoring Escalante was held at the Garfield High School where he taught from 1974 to 1991. Students observed a moment of silence
on the front steps of the East L.A. campus.
Another tribute to Escalante occurred in Portland, OR, as an unnamed artist renamed a street "N Jaime Escalante Ave" in tribute.
A wake
was held on April 17, 2010 in the lecture hall
at Garfield High School where he taught calculus
.
Escalante is buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park
in Whittier
in an unmarked grave.
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
n educator well-known for teaching students calculus
Calculus
Calculus is a branch of mathematics focused on limits, functions, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series. This subject constitutes a major part of modern mathematics education. It has two major branches, differential calculus and integral calculus, which are related by the fundamental theorem...
from 1974 to 1991 at Garfield High School, East Los Angeles, California
Garfield High School (Los Angeles County, California)
James A. Garfield High School is a public, year-round high school founded in 1925 in East Los Angeles, an unincorporated section of Los Angeles County, California. The school was made famous by the film Stand and Deliver about a teacher named Jaime Escalante...
. Escalante was the subject of the 1988
1988 in film
-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:* Act of Piracy* Action Jackson, starring Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, Vanity, Sharon Stone* The Adventures of Baron Munchausen* Akira* Alice...
film Stand and Deliver
Stand and Deliver
Stand and Deliver is a 1988 American drama film, based on the true story of high school mathematics teacher Jaime Escalante. Edward James Olmos portrayed Escalante in the film and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.-Plot:...
, in which he is portrayed by Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos is an American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, Lt...
.
Escalante's Life
Escalante was born December 31, 1930 in La PazLa Paz
Nuestra Señora de La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of the La Paz Department, and the second largest city in the country after Santa Cruz de la Sierra...
, Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
.
In 1974 he began teaching at Garfield High School. Escalante was initially so disheartened by the lack of preparation of his students that he called his former employer and asked for his old job back. Escalante eventually changed his mind about returning to work when he found 12 students willing to take an algebra
Algebra
Algebra is the branch of mathematics concerning the study of the rules of operations and relations, and the constructions and concepts arising from them, including terms, polynomials, equations and algebraic structures...
class.
Shortly after Escalante came to Garfield High, its accreditation became threatened. Instead of gearing classes to poorly performing students, Escalante offered AP Calculus
AP Calculus
Advanced Placement Calculus is used to indicate one of two distinct Advanced Placement courses and examinations offered by the College Board, AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC....
. He had already earned the criticism of an administrator who disapproved of his requiring the students to answer a homework question before being allowed into the classroom. "He told me to just get them inside," Escalante reported, "but I said, there is no teaching, no learning going on".
Determined to change the status quo, Escalante had to persuade the first few students who would listen to him that they could control their futures with the right education. He promised them that the jobs would be in engineering, electronics and computers but they would have to learn math to succeed. He said to his students "I'll teach you math and that's your language. With that you're going to make it. You're going to college and sit in the first row, not the back, because you're going to know more than anybody".
The school administration opposed Escalante frequently during his first few years. He was threatened with dismissal by an assistant principal because he was coming in too early, leaving too late, and failing to get administrative permission to raise funds to pay for his students' Advanced Placement tests. This opposition changed with arrival of a new principal, Henry Gradillas. Aside from allowing Escalante to stay as a math teacher, Gradillas overhauled the academic curriculum at Garfield, reducing the number of basic math classes and requiring those taking basic math to concurrently take algebra. He denied extracurricular activities to students who failed to maintain a C average and new students who failed basic skill tests. One of Escalante's students remarked about him, "If he wants to teach us that bad, we can learn."
Escalante continued to teach at Garfield, but it was not until 1978 that Escalante would instruct his first calculus class. He hoped that it could provide the leverage to improve lower-level math courses. To this end, Escalante recruited fellow teacher Ben Jiménez and taught calculus to five students, two of whom passed the A.P. calculus test. The following year, the class size increased to nine students, seven of whom passed the A.P. calculus test. By 1981, the class had increased to 15 students, 14 of whom passed. Escalante placed a high priority on pressuring his students to pass their math classes, particularly advanced calculus. He rejected the common practice of ranking students from first to last and instead frequently told his students to press themselves as hard as possible in their assignments.
National attention
In 1982, Escalante came into the national spotlight when 18 of his students passed the challenging Advanced Placement Calculus exam. The Educational Testing ServiceEducational Testing Service
Educational Testing Service , founded in 1947, is the world's largest private nonprofit educational testing and assessment organization...
found these scores to be suspicious, because all of the students made exactly the same math error on problem #6, and also used the same unusual variable names. 14 of those who passed were asked to take the exam again. 12 of the 14 agreed to retake the test and all 12 did well enough to have their scores reinstated. In 1983, the number of students enrolling and passing the A.P. calculus test more than doubled. That year 33 students took the exam and 30 passed. That year Escalante also started teaching calculus at East Los Angeles College
East Los Angeles College
East Los Angeles College is a community college of the Los Angeles Community College District in the Los Angeles suburb of Monterey Park. Fourteen communities comprise its primary service area...
. By 1987, 73 students passed the A.P. calculus
AP Calculus
Advanced Placement Calculus is used to indicate one of two distinct Advanced Placement courses and examinations offered by the College Board, AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC....
AB exam and another 12 passed the BC version of the test. This was the peak for the calculus program. The same year Gradillas went on sabbatical to finish his doctorate with hopes that he could be reinstated as principal at Garfield or a similar school with similar programs upon his return.
1988 saw the release of a book Escalante: The Best Teacher in America by Jay Mathews and a movie Stand and Deliver
Stand and Deliver
Stand and Deliver is a 1988 American drama film, based on the true story of high school mathematics teacher Jaime Escalante. Edward James Olmos portrayed Escalante in the film and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.-Plot:...
detailing the events of 1982. During this time teachers and other interested observers asked to sit in on his classes. He shared with them: "The key to my success with youngsters is a very simple and time-honored tradition: hard work for teacher and student alike". Escalante received visits from political leaders and celebrities, including then-President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
.
Escalante has described the film as "90% truth, 10% drama." He stated that several points were left out of the film:
- It took him several years to achieve the kind of success shown in the film.
- In no case was a student who didn't know multiplication tables or fractions taught calculus in a single year.
- Escalante suffered inflammation of the gall bladderCholecystitis-Signs and symptoms:Cholecystitis usually presents as a pain in the right upper quadrant. This is known as biliary colic. This is initially intermittent, but later usually presents as a constant, severe pain. During the initial stages, the pain may be felt in an area totally separate from the site...
, not a heart attack.
Over the next few years Escalante's calculus program continued to grow but not without its own price. Tensions that surfaced when his career began at Garfield escalated. In his final years at Garfield, Escalante received threats and hate mail from various individuals. By 1990, he had lost the math department chairmanship. At this point Escalante's math enrichment program had grown to 400+ students. His class sizes had increased to over 50 students in some cases. This was far beyond the 35 student limit set by the teachers' union, which in turn increased criticism of Escalante's work. In 1991, the number of Garfield students taking advanced placement examinations in math and other subjects jumped to 570. That same year, citing faculty politics and petty jealousies, Escalante and Jiménez left Garfield. Escalante found new employment at Hiram W. Johnson High School in Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
. At the height of Escalante's influence, Garfield graduates were entering the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
in such great numbers that they outnumbered all the other high schools in the working-class East Los Angeles region combined. Even students who failed the AP went on to become star students at California State-Los Angeles in large numbers.
Angelo Villavicencio took the reins of the program after their departure and taught the remaining 107 A.P. students in two classes for the next year. 67 of Villavicencio's students went on to take the A.P. exam and 47 passed. Villavicencio's request for a third class due to class size was denied and the following spring he followed Escalante and quit Garfield. The math program's decline at Garfield became apparent following the departure of Escalante and other teachers associated with its inception and development. In just a few years, the number of A.P. calculus students at Garfield who passed their exams dropped by more than 80 percent. In 1996, Villavicencio contacted Garfield's new principal, Tony Garcia, and offered to come back to help revive the dying calculus program. His offer was rejected.
Later life and death
During the mid-1990s, Escalante became a strong supporter of "English-only" education efforts. In 1997, he joined the "English for Children" initiative, which was a controversial campaign against bilingual education in California schools.In 2001, after many years of preparing teenagers for the A.P. calculus exam, Escalante returned to his native Bolivia. He lived in his wife's hometown, Cochabamba
Cochabamba
Cochabamba is a city in central Bolivia, located in a valley bearing the same name in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and is the fourth largest city in Bolivia with an urban population of 608,276 and a metropolitan population of more than 1,000,000 people...
, and taught part time at the local university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
. He returned to the United States frequently to visit his children.
, he faced financial difficulties from the cost of his cancer treatment. Cast members from Stand and Deliver
Stand and Deliver
Stand and Deliver is a 1988 American drama film, based on the true story of high school mathematics teacher Jaime Escalante. Edward James Olmos portrayed Escalante in the film and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.-Plot:...
, including Edward James Olmos, and some of Escalante's former pupils, raised funds to help pay for his medical bills.
Jaime Escalante moved to Sacramento, California, to live with his son in the city of Rancho Cordova. He taught at Hiram Johnson High School, a school very similar to Garfield High School. He died on March 30, 2010, aged 79, at his son's home while undergoing treatment for bladder cancer
Bladder cancer
Bladder cancer is any of several types of malignant growths of the urinary bladder. It is a disease in which abnormal cells multiply without control in the bladder. The bladder is a hollow, muscular organ that stores urine; it is located in the pelvis...
. He is survived by his wife Fabiola and his sons Fernando and Jaime Jr.
On Thursday April 1, 2010 a memorial service honoring Escalante was held at the Garfield High School where he taught from 1974 to 1991. Students observed a moment of silence
Moment of silence
A moment of silence is the expression for a period of silent contemplation, prayer, reflection, or meditation. Similar to flying a flag at half-mast, a moment of silence is often a gesture of respect, particularly in mourning for those who have recently died or as part of a commemoration ceremony...
on the front steps of the East L.A. campus.
Another tribute to Escalante occurred in Portland, OR, as an unnamed artist renamed a street "N Jaime Escalante Ave" in tribute.
A wake
Wake (ceremony)
A wake is a ceremony associated with death. Traditionally, a wake takes place in the house of the deceased, with the body present; however, modern wakes are often performed at a funeral home. In the United States and Canada it is synonymous with a viewing...
was held on April 17, 2010 in the lecture hall
Lecture hall
A lecture hall is a large room used for instruction, typically at a college or university. Unlike a traditional classroom with a capacity from one to four dozen, the capacity of lecture halls is typically measured in the hundreds...
at Garfield High School where he taught calculus
Calculus
Calculus is a branch of mathematics focused on limits, functions, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series. This subject constitutes a major part of modern mathematics education. It has two major branches, differential calculus and integral calculus, which are related by the fundamental theorem...
.
Escalante is buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park
Rose Hills Memorial Park
Rose Hills Memorial Park is the largest cemetery in the United States and is located in Whittier, California. It is owned and operated by Service Corporation International .-Mausoleums and Chapels:...
in Whittier
Whittier, California
Whittier is a city in Los Angeles County, California about southeast of Los Angeles. The city had a population of 85,331 at the 2010 census, up from 83,680 as of the 2000 census, and encompasses 14.7 square miles . Like nearby Montebello, the city constitutes part of the Gateway Cities...
in an unmarked grave.
Education
- Unspecified Year: Escuela Normal Simón Bolivar, School Teacher Degree
- 1955: University Mayor de San Andres, Licentiate in Mathematics
- 1969: Associate of Arts, Pasadena City CollegePasadena City CollegePasadena City College is a community college in Pasadena, California, USA, located on Colorado Boulevard. PCC is the third largest community college campus in the United States. PCC was founded in 1924 as Pasadena Junior College. In 1954, Pasadena Junior College merged with another junior...
- 1973: Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics, California State University, Los AngelesCalifornia State University, Los AngelesCalifornia State University, Los Angeles is a public comprehensive university, part of the California State University system...
- 1977: Standard teaching credential, California State University, Los Angeles
- 1982: Standard teaching credential, California State University, Los Angeles.
- 1984: Standard teaching credential, Florida State UniversityFlorida State UniversityThe Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...
, FloridaFloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
.
Awards
- 1988 – Presidential Medal for Excellence in EducationPresidential Citizens MedalThe Presidential Citizens Medal is the second highest civilian award in the United States, second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is awarded by the President of the United States, and may be given posthumously....
, awarded by President Ronald ReaganRonald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor.... - 1988 – Hispanic Heritage Awards Honoree
- 1989 – Honorary DoctorHonorary degreeAn honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
of Science – University of Massachusetts BostonUniversity of Massachusetts BostonThe University of Massachusetts Boston, also known as UMass Boston, is an urban public research university and the second largest campus in the five-campus University of Massachusetts system. The university is located on on Harbor Point in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States... - 1990 – Honorary Doctor of Humanities – California State University, Los AngelesCalifornia State University, Los AngelesCalifornia State University, Los Angeles is a public comprehensive university, part of the California State University system...
- 1990 – Honorary Doctor of Education – Concordia University, MontrealMontrealMontreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
- 1990 – Honorary Doctor of Laws – University of Northern ColoradoUniversity of Northern Colorado-Organization:The University of Northern Colorado offers 100 undergraduate programs and more than 100 graduate programs. The university has a satellite campus in Denver, Colorado...
- 1998 – Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters – Wittenberg UniversityWittenberg UniversityWittenberg University is a private four-year liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio serving 2,000 full-time students representing 37 states and approximately 30 foreign countries...
- 1998 – Free Spirit Award, from the Freedom ForumFreedom ForumThe Freedom Forum was created in 1991 under the direction of Al Neuharth, former publisher of USA Today newspaper. Funding was provided by a foundation started by publisher Frank E. Gannett in 1935, called the Gannett Foundation...
- 1998 – Andrés BelloAndrés BelloAndrés de Jesús María y José Bello López was a Venezuelan humanist, poet, lawmaker, philosopher, educator and philologist, whose political and literary works constitute an important part of Spanish American culture...
prize, from the Organization of American StatesOrganization of American StatesThe Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States... - 1999 – Inductee National Teachers Hall of FameNational Teachers Hall of FameThe National Teachers Hall of Fame is an American non-profit organization honoring exceptional school teachers. It was founded in 1989 by Emporia State University, the ESU Alumni Association, the City of Emporia, USD 253, and the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce...
- 2002 – Member, President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans
- 2005 – The Highest Office Award – Center for Youth Citizenship
- 2005 – Best teacher in North America – Freedom ForumFreedom ForumThe Freedom Forum was created in 1991 under the direction of Al Neuharth, former publisher of USA Today newspaper. Funding was provided by a foundation started by publisher Frank E. Gannett in 1935, called the Gannett Foundation...
See also
- Ken CarterKen CarterKenny Ray Carter is an American business owner, education activist and former high school basketball coach. Carter attended college at San Francisco State, then Contra Costa College, and finally George Fox University, where he played basketball.-Biography:...
, education activist and former high school basketball coach portrayed in the 2005 film, Coach CarterCoach CarterCoach Carter is a 2005 American film directed by Thomas Carter. It is based on a true story, in which Richmond High School basketball coach Ken Carter made headlines in 1999 for benching his MVP and undefeated team due to poor academic results.... - Joe Louis ClarkJoe Louis ClarkJoe Louis Clark is the former principal of Eastside High School in Paterson, one of New Jersey's toughest inner city schools. He is also the subject of the 1989 film Lean on Me, starring Morgan Freeman. Clark gained public attention in the 1980s for his unconventional and controversial...
, high school principal portrayed in Lean on Me (film)Lean on Me (film)Lean on Me is a 1989 dramatized biographical written by Michael Schiffer, directed by John G. Avildsen and starring Morgan Freeman. Lean on Me is loosely based on the story of Joe Louis Clark, a real life inner city high school principal in Paterson, New Jersey, whose school is at risk of being... - Ron Clark (teacher), portrayed in the 2006 film, The Ron Clark StoryThe Ron Clark StoryThe Ron Clark Story is a 2006 television film, starring Matthew Perry, that premiered on TNT on Sunday, August 13, 2006...
- Pierre DulainePierre DulainePierre Dulaine is a well-known ballroom dancer and dance instructor. He invented the Dulaine method of teaching dance. He also developed Dancing Classrooms, a social development program for 5th grade children that uses ballroom dancing as a vehicle to change the lives of the children and their...
, dancer and dance educator - Marilyn GambrellMarilyn GambrellMarilyn Gambrell is a parole officer turned teacher who started the program No More Victims at the M.B. Smiley High School in Houston, Texas. The program was developed to assist children with incarcerated parents, hoping to prevent them from following in their parent's footsteps...
, parole officer-turned high school teacher portrayed in the 2005 Lifetime movie, Fighting the Odds: The Marilyn Gambrell StoryFighting the Odds: The Marilyn Gambrell StoryFighting the Odds: The Marilyn Gambrell Story is a 2005 TV film which tells the true story of a former parole officer named Marilyn Gambrell, who helped a group of students at M.B. Smiley High School in Houston, Texas, United States. The students had either been raped, sexually harassed and/or... - Erin GruwellErin GruwellErin Gruwell is an American teacher known for her unorthodox teaching method, which led to the publication of The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them...
, high school teacher portrayed in the film, The Freedom Writers - LouAnne JohnsonLouAnne JohnsonLouAnne Johnson is an American writer, teacher and former United States Marine. She is best known for the book My Posse Don't Do Homework, which was adapted as the film Dangerous Minds in 1995.Johnson grew up in Youngsville, Pennsylvania...
, writer, teacher and former U.S. Marine featured in the 1995 film, Dangerous MindsDangerous MindsDangerous Minds is an American drama film based on the autobiography My Posse Don't Do Homework by former U.S. Marine LouAnne Johnson, who took up a teaching position at Carlmont High School in Belmont, California, where most of her students were African-American and Hispanic teenagers from East... - Melvin B. TolsonMelvin B. TolsonMelvin Beaunorus Tolson was an American Modernist poet, educator, columnist, and politician. His work concentrated on the experience of African Americans and includes several long historical poems. His work was influenced by his study of the Harlem Renaissance, although he spent nearly all of...
, debating coach and teacher who was featured in 2007 film, "The Great DebatersThe Great DebatersThe Great Debaters is a 2007 American biopic period drama film directed by and starring two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington and produced by Oprah Winfrey and her production company, Harpo Productions...
"
External links
- Big Business, Race, and Gender in Mathematics Reform
- Hall of Fame profile
- Jamie Escalante and the Lancaster Amish An MP3 of a talk by John Taylor GattoJohn Taylor GattoJohn Taylor Gatto is a retired American school teacher with nearly 30 years experience in the classroom, and author of several books on education...