• Baylor alum wins national award for research on racial segregation in public schools

    castaneda-nov14

    Imagine being in elementary school and unable to communicate with teachers and students. You’re alienated, confused and unable to keep pace with your peers. This was Roy Castañeda’s children in the 1970s.

    Castañeda, whose household (pictured above) spoke primarily Spanish, brought a lawsuit against his local Texas school district, which he believed was allowing racial segregation and not offering a proper English Language Learner (ELL) program. More than 30 years later, Baylor School of Education doctoral student Jessica Meehan (MSEd ’08, PhD ’13) examined the case and the impact it’s had on bilingual education programs in her dissertation — for which she won the 2014 John Laska Distinguished Dissertation Award in Teaching from the American Association for Teaching and Curriculum.

    After working for Waco ISD, Meehan went back to school to earn her master’s and doctorate from Baylor. Now, she is an assistant professor in the College of Education at Tarleton State University. “Baylor did an excellent job of preparing me for a career in higher education,” Meehan says. “Through the program I had the opportunity to teach, monitor field experiences and conduct meaningful research. I had wonderful mentors that encouraged me to pursue my interests and that supported me throughout my doctoral requirement.”

    Sic ’em, Dr. Meehan!

    [For more on Meehan and other news from Baylor’s School of Education, check out “Instant Impact,” a blog from the SOE.]