Teacher and education administrator Marva Collins was born August 31, 1936 in Monroeville, Alabama. She earned from Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University) in Atlanta, Georgia, where she studied secretarial skills. She taught for two years in Georgia then moved to Chicago and taught in the Chicago Public School system, as a substitute teacher, for fourteen years. Frustrated by the student performance, Collins opened the Westside Preparatory School on the second floor of her home in 1975. Her first students included her son, daughter and several neighborhood children. After a year, every student scored at least five grades higher on their standardized tests. At the end of 1996, Collins returned to the Chicago Public Schools to supervise three schools that had been placed on probation. Under her leadership, the rating of two of the schools increased by eighty-five percent in six months. Collins passed away on June 24, 2015 at age 78.
Alternative title
History Makers video oral history with Marva Collins