Educators

Danica McKellar

Bill Thompson

If you know Danica McKellar only as Winnie Cooper on TV’s The Wonder Years, from the 1980s, what she has done since the show ended may surprise you.

After The Wonder Years ended in the early 90s, Danica McKellar went to UCLA and got a degree in math.

She now writes books about mathematics, and advocates for education.

In 2007 she wrote a book for Middle school-age girls, called Math Doesn’t Suck.

I had a few minutes with her after an event at a bookstore outside Washington DC.

So here now, from 2007, Danica McKellar.

Danica McKellar will be 47 in January. In addition to her work in math, she still does some acting, and as a producer, as well.

Marva Collins

Bill Thompson
Photo: Eric Watkins

America’s schools are in crisis right now.

After COVID took its toll, and forced remote learning on millions of kids, school boards all over the country are now dealing with loud, sometimes ferocious, debates over everything from mask mandates to gender pronouns to critical race theory.

But debate over education is nothing new.

A generation ago, a Chicago educator with unusual methods was both widely praised and roundly criticized.

Yet it was hard to argue with the success that Marva Collins had with the students who attended her private inner city elementary school.

I met her some 31 years ago as we have a conversation about the state of education, and her unusual methods.

So here now, from 1990, Marva Collins.

Marva Collins died in 2015. She was 78.