[2] When she was young, Collins went to a strict elementary school in a one-room schoolhouse in Atmore, an experience which influenced her later in life.

[4] Dismayed at the low levels of learning that she felt some students were experiencing in particular areas, Collins took $5,000 ($25,910 in 2021 dollars[5]) from her own teacher's retirement fund and started a private school on the top floors of the brownstone in the West Garfield Park neighborhood where she lived in 1975.

[9] Collins and her daughter ran the school for more than 30 years until it closed in 2008 due to lack of sufficient enrollment and funding.

[12] The 60 Minutes feature was inspired by a 1970s article written by Chicago Sun-Times reporter Zay N. Smith about Collins and Westside Prep.

[13] In 1982, Kevin Ross, a 23–year-old Creighton University basketball player, got to his senior year of college without being able to read.

[21] She was also asked by president George Bush to become Secretary of Education, but she declined in favor of teaching one student at a time.

[6][26] Collins was known for applying classical education, in particular the Socratic method, modified for use in primary schools, successfully with impoverished students.

Collins died on June 24, 2015, in Beaufort County, South Carolina, aged 78, while in hospice care.