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      LOS ANGELES (AP) - Jaime Escalante transformed a tough East Los
Angeles high school by motivating struggling inner-city students to
master advanced math, became one of America's most famous teachers
and inspired the movie "Stand and Deliver."

      He died Tuesday at age 79 after battling cancer for several
years, family friend Keith Miller said.

      Escalante used his outsized personality to goad his
working-class Mexican-American students to succeed, said Elsa
Bolado, 45, one of his former pupils.

      Bolado, now an elementary school teacher and trainer, remembers
Escalante's charisma, the way he built her confidence with long
hours of solving problems and how he inspired her career choice
with his unorthodox approach to learning.

      "Teaching is an art form. There's a lot of practicioners and
very few artists. He was a master artist," she said.

      An immigrant from Bolivia, he overhauled Garfield High School's
math curriculum and pushed his students to do their best until the
school had more advanced placement calculus students than all but
four other public high schools in the country.

      Edward James Olmos played Escalante in the 1988 film based on
his story.

      "Jaime exposed one of the most dangerous myths of our time -
that inner city students can't be expected to perform at the
highest levels," Olmos said. "Because of him, that destructive
idea has been shattered forever."

      Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Escalante "shared in my belief
that anything is possible in California."

      "He put everything he had into becoming an inspirational
teacher whose passion, commitment and belief that all students can
achieve excellence set an example for us all," Schwarzenegger
said. "His talent, hard work and dedication in the classroom
changed the lives of countless students."

      Escalante was a teacher in La Paz before he emigrated to the
U.S. He had to study English at night for years to get his
California teaching credentials and return to the classroom.

      At first he was discouraged by Garfield's "culture of low
expectations, gang activity and administrative apathy," Miller
said. Gradually his long hours in the classroom paid off and dozens
of his students passed the test year after year.

      Bolado took the AP calculus test in 1982, the year that testing
officials made some Garfield students retake it because they were
suspicious that so many of Escalante's students had passed. She
said 14 students were asked to take the test again months later and
all 12 who did passed.


      "To this day, I still think of the example he set - the study
skills, how not to give up," said Bolado, 45. "I revert back to
that every time things get rough."

      Escalante left Garfield in 1991, taught at schools in Sacramento
and retired to Bolivia in 2001.

      The cast of "Stand and Deliver" recently appealed for
donations to help Escalante pay for his alternative cancer
treatments.

      He is survived by his wife, two sons, and six grandchildren.

Gallery

Jaime Escalante transformed a tough East Los
Angeles high school by motivating struggling inner-city students to
master advanced math, became one of America's most famous teachers
and inspired the movie "Stand and Deliver."

Teacher who inspired 'Stand and Deliver' film dies

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