EDST Faculty Member Presents Research in Baltimore and Houston  

Bryan Meadows, Assistant Professor

Bryan Meadows, EDST assistant professor, was selected to present his research recently at two academic conferences, one in Baltimore and another in Houston.

The first conference, hosted by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), was held February 18-20, 2020 in Baltimore, MD. The NASP Annual Convention draws thousands of participants from around the country and is considered the premier location for K-12 school psychologists to access the latest research in their field. This year, the convention hosted over 1,200 individual peer-reviewed sessions. Selection to present at the NASP Annual Convention is highly selective.

NASP Annual Convention (Baltimore, MD)

At the convention, Dr. Meadows (EDST) presented the results of a study co-authored with faculty colleague, Professor Brian Conners (EDST). The study title was "Restraint and Seclusion in Schools with English Language Learners." Professor Conners and Dr. Meadows examined the available Office of Civil Rights (OCR) data on how public schools are applying Restraint and Seclusion (R&S) procedures to English Learner (EL) students over time. Among other findings, the study determined that EL students are making up an increasing percentage of public school students subjected to R&S procedures nationwide. As part of the poster session, Dr. Meadows discussed the co-authored study with NASP colleagues, establishing valuable inter-disciplinary connections that benefit the College of Education and Human Services.

TexTESOL IV Regional Conference (Houston, TX)

The second conference, the TexTESOL IV Regional Conference, was also held in Houston, TX on February 29, 2020. Dr. Meadows's lecture presentation was titled, "Helping Intermediate/Advanced Adult EL Students to Continue Developing their Speaking Abilities." In this talk, Dr. Meadows shared with the audience of professional ESL educators a three-part speaking unit designed for adults learning English as a new language. The unit is designed to apprentice adult English learners through three performance tasks, each with increasing levels of linguistic demands. Dr. Meadows discussed the instructional materials making up the unit and shared with audience members download links to the materials.

During the lecture, an active dialogue developed as audience members offered additional techniques they have used successfully in their ESL classrooms. The lecture presentation was a valuable opportunity for Dr. Meadows to share his faculty practice with audiences in additional regions of the United States and to thus contribute directly to ongoing discussions within the field of language education nationally. The TexTESOL IV Regional Conference hosted over 200 English language practitioners from across the greater Houston metropolitan area. The one-day conference featured 2 keynote sessions and 32 peer-reviewed lecture sessions.

Categories: Education, Research