Jaime Escalante

Jaime Escalante (center) receiving the Teach Freedom Award

Jaime Escalante was born in La Paz, Bolivia in 1930. Both of his parents were teachers, and he taught physics and math in Bolivia for 14 years. In 1964, Escalante moved to the United States and intended to teach computer science to high school students at Garfield High School in Los Angeles, California.

Garfield High School was well-known for the high percentage of gang members and other students who were rough around the edges (to say the least). They didn't need a computer science teacher, so Escalante found himself teaching advanced math to these students. In 1982, several of his students passed the AP Calculus test. When the AP test's administrators didn't believe them and invalidated the scores, his students took the test a second time and passed again.

In 1988, a movie called "Stand and Deliver" was made about Escalante's first AP class and the trials he went through trying to teach them. He retired from teaching in 1998, but continued giving seminars until 2001, when he moved back to Bolivia.