Marva Delores Collins ( née Knight ; August 31 , 1936 -- June 24 , 2015 ) was an American educator who in 1975 started Westside Preparatory School in the impoverished Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago .
Marva Collins ( August 31 , 1936 -- June 25 , 2015 ) was an American teacher . In 1975 she started Westside Preparatory School in Garfield Park , a poor neighborhood of Chicago .