Jaime Alfonso Escalante Gutiérrez (December 31, 1930 – March 30, 2010) was a Bolivian-American educator known for teaching students calculus from 1974 to 1991 at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles.

[4] He worked various jobs while teaching himself English and earning another college degree before eventually returning to the classroom as an educator.

Escalante was initially so disheartened by the lack of preparation of his students that he called his former employer and asked for his old job back.

[7] He had already earned the criticism of an administrator, who disapproved of his requiring the students to answer a homework question before being allowed into the classroom: "He said to 'Just get them inside.'

He was threatened with dismissal by an assistant principal because he was coming in too early, leaving too late, and failing to get administrative permission to raise funds to pay for his students' Advanced Placement tests.

The Educational Testing Service found the scores to be suspicious because they all made exactly the same math error on the sixth problem, and they also used the same unusual variable names.

[11] In 1988, a book, Escalante: The Best Teacher in America by Jay Mathews, and a film, Stand and Deliver, were released based on the events of 1982.

He shared with them: "The key to my success with youngsters is a very simple and time-honored tradition: hard work for teacher and student alike."

Escalante received visits from political leaders and celebrities, including President Ronald Reagan and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[6]: 210  In 1990, Escalante worked with the Foundation for Advancements in Science and Education to produce the video series Futures, which won a Peabody Award.

[9] At the height of Escalante's success, Garfield graduates were entering the University of Southern California in such great numbers that they outnumbered all the other high schools in the working-class East Los Angeles region combined.

The math program's decline at Garfield became apparent following the departure of Escalante, Villavicencio, and other teachers associated with its inception and development.

In 1996, Villavicencio contacted Garfield's new principal, Tony Garcia, and offered to come back to help revive the dying calculus program.

In 1997, he joined Ron Unz's English for the Children initiative, which eventually ended most bilingual education in California schools.

In early 2010 Escalante made a final trip to the United States to pursue treatment for bladder cancer.

As he faced financial difficulties from the cost of his cancer treatment, cast members from Stand and Deliver, including Edward James Olmos, and some of Escalante's former pupils, raised funds to help pay for his medical bills.