Educators We Lost in 2015

Education World mourns the loss of some highly influential educators we lost in 2015.

Marva Collins | August 31, 1936 to June 24, 2015

Before there were the Common Core Standards to set high standards and expectations, there was Marva Collins, a tireless educator who made significant progress helping poor and black students succeed.

In 1975, after starting in education as a substitute public-school teacher, Collins helped open the Westside Preparatory School in Chicago, of which she said “there are no dropouts, no substitute teachers, and when teachers are absent, the students teach themselves,” according to the New York Times. 

The school’s success helped her earn national attention and prompted her to use her abilities to help others by training teachers nationwide.

She was the recipient of countless awards and had authored several books.

She passed away at 78 in hospice care.

Grant Wiggins | 1950 to May 29, 2015

Grant Wiggins published the famous book “Understanding by Design” in 1998 and changed teaching instruction towards curriculum driven by learning goals. 

Throughout his life, Wiggins was an active voice for the education community, leaving no topic untouched.

Just days before his passing, in fact, Wiggins was debating with fellow educator Daniel Willingham on teaching reading comprehension strategies (RCS) through his blog, "Granted, and…"

The countless educators that were influenced by Wiggins’ consistent and careful analysis mourned the loss when he passed on May 29th at age 64 from a heart condition.

Beverly Hall | July 7, 1946 to March 2, 2015

Despite a whirlwind of controversy surrounding her final days, Beverly Hall passed away this year leaving behind a legacy built in the Atlanta Public School system as former superintendent and 2009’s Superintendent of the Year.

Hall was in the middle of the infamous Atlanta schools cheating scandal before her death and was facing criminal charges for racketeering and other offenses.

Hall died at age 68 before she could faces the charges of breast cancer, but regardless of the lack of judgment, Hall is still remembered as an innovator in urban education and a leader for poor, minority children.

This is evident by her winning the National Superintendent of the Year award, an honor said to be equivalent to the Nobel Prize for a teacher.

Hall retired from her position as superintendent in 2011, just before the cheating scandal began to be investigated. 

Thomas M. Sobol | Jan 11, 1932 to Sept. 3, 2015

Thomas Sobol’s life defined a life committed to education. Throughout his career in education he served as a teacher, a school superintendent, a state education commissioner, a college professor, and a tireless education advocate.

Sobol served as "the New York State education commissioner for eight years, appointed by the State Board of Regents in 1987, early in the second term of Gov. Mario M. Cuomo,” said the New York Times. 

He is well known for making one of the first attempts to establish K-12 learning standards in a broad manifesto called A New Compact for Learning which he authored as commissioner.

According to the Times, "Diane Ravitch, the education historian, wrote in an email: 'Tom Sobol was the last state commissioner who understood that education means something more than test-taking and high scores.’”

Sobol passed away Sept. 3 at age 83 from complications of Parkinson’s disease.

Richard Lakin | 1939 to Oct. 27, 2015

Civil right activist and former principal Richard Lakin died in a Palestinian attack in Israel, where he moved after years of being a renowned principal in the U.S.

"Micah Avni said his father was a beloved educator and author of a book on teaching. He was an elementary school principal in the U.S. and taught English in mixed classes of Muslims and Jews in Jerusalem after moving to Israel in 1984,” said Masslive.com.

"Suzanne Hertel of West Hartford, Connecticut taught under Lakin at the Hopewell School in Glastonbury, where he was principal. He championed an effort to bring students from inner-city Hartford to Glastonbury under a program called Project Concern, she said.”

He is revered in the education community for many of his contributions, including authoring the book Teaching As an Act of Love: Thoughts and Recollections of a Former Teacher, Principal and Kid

Lakin died from injuries sustained during a Oct. 3 attack on the bus he was riding in.

Compiled by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

12/23/2015