Bio

For two decades Jessica Padrón Meehan, Ed.D., has dedicated her life to the areas of ESL and Bilingual Education. As a passionate educator, Dr. Meehan has worked at all levels of education, including public schools in Austin, Waco, and Hamden, Conn., as well as serving as an Assistant Professor of Reading at Tarleton State University.

Dr. Meehan grew up in South Texas, where she developed a love for her cultural heritage and a passion for education. Her experiences growing up 25 miles from the Mexican border provided an upbringing of bilingualism and biculturalism, which she celebrates in her research, writing, and teaching methods.

After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.S. specializing in Bilingual/Bicultural Education, Dr. Meehan taught for seven years in a bilingual classroom setting and had the privilege of teaching within a dual language program in Austin.

While obtaining her M.S.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction at Baylor University, Dr. Meehan focused her studies on literacy. Her research and coursework afforded her the opportunity to refine her knowledge of literacy development in Emergent Bilinguals. It was during this time that Dr. Meehan became an advocate of culturally relevant children’s literature.

Dr. Meehan earned her Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction at Baylor University. Dr. Meehan’s research, Castañeda v. Pickard, The Struggle for an Equitable Education: One Family’s Experience with Resistance, used qualitative research methods to document the story behind the bilingual court case that resulted in the Castañeda Test. As a result of this research, Dr. Meehan was awarded the 2014 American Association for Teaching and Curriculum’s distinguished John Laska Dissertation Award.

Dr. Meehan currently teaches graduate courses focusing on qualitative research and issues in diversity. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, traveling, and spending time with her family.