Our Mission
The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk (MCPER) is dedicated to generating and disseminating empirically validated knowledge and practices to influence educators, researchers, policymakers, families, and other stakeholders who are striving to reduce academic, behavioral, and social risk in all learners, particularly those with disabilities.
Created in the spring of 2008 with a major commitment from the Meadows Foundation of Dallas, The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk (MCPER) at The University of Texas at Austin is a collaboration of researchers from multiple disciplines and sites including the Vaughn Gross Center in UT's College of Education.
Library
MCPER-produced resources, presentations, videos, and other materials are posted throughout this site. To make it easier to find these materials, they also are posted in an online Library. This page contains links, references, and downloadable PDF files (where appropriate) for all of the materials posted elsewhere on the site. The Library is updated continually, so visit it often to explore MCPER’s newest materials. All materials continue to be posted on the relevant Institute and Project pages as well.
Distinguished Lecture Series
Several times a year, MCPER hosts distinguished faculty in the field of education from across the country. These lectures focus on research that addresses different aspects of preventing educational risk. Please see the Events page for more details about upcoming distinguished lectures.
Institutes
Much of the research, technical assistance, and professional development activities at MCPER are organized within five institutes: the Autism Spectrum Disorders Institute, the Dropout Prevention Institute, the Mathematics Institute for Learning Disabilities and Difficulties, the Reading Institute, and the Response to Intervention Institute.
Institute Fellows
MCPER’s five institutes invite scholars from within and outside of The University of Texas at Austin to serve as Institute Fellows for 3-year terms. These researchers collaborate with MCPER on projects, presentations, and research grants, and often visit to discuss their research as part of the Brown Bag series, Distinguished Lectures, and other events. To learn more about the Institute Fellows and their work, visit the Faculty and Staff pages of the Autism Spectrum Disorders Institute, Dropout Prevention Institute, and Mathematics Institute for Learning Disabilities and Difficulties.