Linda is a Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Cambridge College, Puerto Rico, where she teaches courses in designing democratic schools, school observation and organizational change. She also serves as a senior fellow for High Tech High Graduate School of Education. She founded, co-founded and led three schools in the Boston Public Schools (Tobin Bilingual Middle School for the Arts, Fenway High School, Boston Arts Academy). She also founded three distinct non-profits (El Pueblo Nuevo, Center for Collaborative Education and Center for Artistry and Scholarship). She was co-founder and co-director of Perrone Sizer Institute for Creative Leadership, a year-long graduate certificate program that developed innovative leaders who integrate education, artistic, and community-based resources to transform the lives of youth and families.
As an experienced leader in education, Linda mentors and coaches teachers and principals, and consults nationally and internationally on issues of educational reform, leadership, teaching with a commitment to racial justice and equity, and the critical role of arts and creativity in schools. Linda is also the author of two widely praised books: The Hardest Questions Aren’t on the Test and When Grit Isn’t Enough (Beacon Press). Her newest book, co -edited with two of her former graduate students, was published by Palgrave Macmillan, Building Democratic Schools and Learning Environments: A Global Perspective. Linda blogs about many of these issues at www.lindanathan.com
She began her teaching career in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and then came to Boston to work as a bilingual middle school teacher.
Dr. Nathan holds a Doctor of Education degree from Harvard University, Master’s degrees from Emerson College and Antioch University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley.