I have many mentors who I have been fortunate to have throughout my life, but the number one mentor who influenced my career so much is Marva Collins. Let me tell you who she is and why she has been such a good mentor and role model throughout my career.
Marva Collins (August 31, 1936-June 24, 2015) was an American educator who is best known for creating Westside Preparatory School, a widely acclaimed private elementary school in the impoverished Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, which opened in 1975.
Collins was born in Monroeville, Alabama, and grew up in a small town near Mobile, Alabama, during the time of segregation in the American South. When Marva was young, she went to a strict elementary school in a one-room schoolhouse, an experience that influenced her later in life. She graduated from Clark College (now known as Clark Atlanta University) in Atlanta, Georgia.
Collins was a hard worker! She taught school for two years in Alabama, then moved to Chicago in 1959, where she taught as a full-time substitute teacher in inner-city Chicago Public Schools for fourteen years.
Dismayed at the low levels of learning that she felt some students were experiencing, Collins took $5,000 ($25,910 in 2021 dollars) from her own teacher’s retirement fund and started a private school on the top floors of a brownstone house in the West Garfield Park neighborhood where she lived in 1975. This action of taking ownership of the problem and building a solution reflects the principles we teach in “The Power of Community to Ensure Your School Source“ program, where educators learn how to leverage their communities to create and sustain effective learning institutions.
Collins started the Westside Preparatory School which became an educational and commercial success as a low-cost private school specifically for the purpose of teaching low-income black children whom Collins felt the Chicago Public School System had mislabeled as being learning disabled. Collins bravely stated the truth that she had the data to prove that her students were teachable and were able to overcome obstacles of learning via her teaching methods, which she said eliminated behavioral issues and allowed students to flourish. Her courage to challenge the system and advocate for her students aligns with the principles of “The Three C’s to Success“—Courage, Compassion, and Collaboration, which are essential qualities for educators striving to make a difference.
The one-room schoolhouse of her education influenced her teaching methods. At home her father gave her assignments she believed built her confidence and gave her a sense of responsibility. She combined these two methods that impacted her own education to her teaching methods of small class size with individualized instruction. Collins and her daughter ran the school for more than 30 years using her individualized education methods for each of her students at her school. This approach mirrors what we emphasize in “What Do Relationships Have to Do with It?“, where we explore the importance of building strong relationships with students and parents to create a nurturing and effective learning environment.
When I started teaching, her philosophy made a lasting impression on my teaching style and later when I opened my own school, much like Marva Collins’ teaching style, my education plan for my school followed suit. I started my school with only 9 students who were all kinesthetic learners who learned best with their hands. I individualized the instruction with projects that allowed them to use their hands and creative minds to solve real-life problems and called on teamwork collaboration with their classmates. As my school grew, her influence was apparent in many ways as I invited visual and auditory learners into our school but made sure individualized education was addressed for all students, making mandatory small class size essential.
Inviting new teachers to join my school was challenging in that besides looking for teachers who were proficient in educational methods trending at the time, I also sought those with the ability to teach to the individual students’ learning modality and academic needs. This individualization was so important to Marva Collins that when President Ronald Reagan, and later President George Bush, wanted to nominate her to the position of United States Secretary of Education, she declined “in favor of teaching one student at a time.”
In hindsight, Marva Collins’ teaching style influenced my own teaching style and later in the planning and organization of my own school. To her, I am most grateful.
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