Nation, state mourn passing of Jaime Escalante: ‘He opened the doors of success for his students'

04-02-2010

By Dan Aiello/California Progress Report

The extraordinary California math teacher who ignored the stereotypes of inner city youth attending a tough East Los Angeles high school and inspired the movie, "Stand and Deliver," died Tuesday evening. He was 79. Family friend Keith Miller says Jaime Escalante died at Washoe County Medical Center in Reno, Nevada, where he was undergoing treatment for bladder cancer. Mr. Escalante had been staying at his family home in Roseville, California, a Sacramento suburb. An immigrant from Bolivia, he transformed L.A.’s Garfield High School by motivating struggling students to tackle and excel at advanced calculus and science. The school had more Advanced Placement calculus students than all but three other public high schools in the country, a result so improbable it was initially rejected, requiring his students to retake the exam. (more...)

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Nation, state mourn passing of Jaime Escalante: ‘He opened the doors of success for his students'

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