Born in La Paz, Bolivia, Jaime Escalante became a math teacher in the United States in the early 1970s. His inspirational methods led supposedly "unteachable" high school students to master calculus. The story of the dedicated teacher and his students attracted national attention with the release of the 1988 movie Stand and Deliver.

Jaime Escalante believed that a teacher's role was to encourage students to set high goals and to achieve beyond their expectations. His legacy lives on in all teachers who see the potential in each of their students.

The stamp design shows Escalante standing in front of a chalkboard on which calculus symbols are visible. He is wearing his signature flat cap, looking forward toward the viewer. The illustration is based on a photograph taken by Jaime W. Escalante, on May 6, 2005, in the actual classroom at Hiram Johnson High School in Sacramento, California, where his father formerly taught.

Fame came to Escalante in an unexpected — and unfortunate — way. In 1982, 18 of his students took the advanced placement calculus exam and passed. Controversy followed when the testing service accused 14 students of cheating. Escalante suspected that the accusation of cheating was due to the fact that the students were Mexican-Americans from a low-income area of Los Angeles. The testing service denied the allegation and proposed a solution: that the 14 students retake the test. Twelve of the 14 took a different exam from the first, and all passed.

Escalante and his students became instant heroes in the fall of 1982 when the story broke in the news media and attracted the attention of Hollywood producer Tom Musca and director Ramón Menéndez. The movie “Stand and Deliver,” released in 1988, garnered good reviews and made Escalante one of the most famous teachers in America.

In 1999, Escalante was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame for his efforts to “have children believe in their ability to achieve.”