OtterKnow Kids Encyclopedia

Marva opened the Westside Preparatory School in Chicago in 1975. She taught her students big words, famous books, and important math, even when other people thought it would be too hard for them. Marva told her students every day that they were smart and could do anything! Her students did so well that people from all over the country came to see her teaching.

• Marva Collins started her school with just $5,000 of her own money!
• Two U.S. presidents offered her the job of Secretary of Education, but she chose to keep teaching her students instead.
• She wrote books and gave speeches to share her special way of teaching with the world!