When Grit Isn't Enough

Session 3

Linda Nathan — The Center for Artistry and Scholarship

Each year, as the founding headmaster of the Boston Arts Academy (BAA), an urban high school that boasts a 94 percent college acceptance rate, Linda Nathan made a promise to the incoming freshmen: “All of you will graduate from high school and go on to college or a career.” But of those who went to college, a third dropped out. After 14 years, Nathan stepped down and reflected on the ideas she and others have perpetuated about education: that college is for all, that hard work and determination are enough to get you through, and that America is a land of equality. Linda interviewed more than 80 BAA alumni and gathered her findings in When Grit Isn't Enough, published in October 2017. In this conversation, Linda shares her research and facilitates conversation among participants to help them identify and develop ways to address roadblocks to their students' post-secondary success.

Conversational Practice

Linda's reflection, research, experience, and highly skilled facilitation supports educators and school leaders to confront their beliefs about what is best for first-generation and other students for whom college access and persistence might be challenging. Participants will come away with motivation, insight, and a deeper understanding of their students' post-high school lives. Her speciality is adult learning, and through all of her workshops and conversations she strives to create opportunities for interaction and collaboration amongst participants as she knows this is the way that adults learn best. Linda also thrives off hearing about the experiences of others. Her goal with this conversation is to share what she has learned, but also learn from the insights of others as this better informs her work.

EduCon 2018

When Grit Isn't Enough

Conversational Practice

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