Kia McDaniel

Dr. Kia Myrick McDaniel has dedicated her career to supporting equitable educational opportunities for culturally and linguistically diverse students. She received her BA in Hearing and Speech Sciences from the University of Maryland, College Park and an MA in Bilingual Special Education from The George Washington University. She has worked as a classroom teacher, reading specialist, ESOL teacher, instructional specialist, and ESOL Instructional Supervisor. Dr. McDaniel currently oversees Specialty Programs in a large urban district in Maryland, leading efforts to support Advanced Programs, Environmental Science, ESOL, STEM, Immersion, and Talented and Gifted Programs.

Dr. McDaniel also serves as adjunct faculty at Loyola College (Maryland), Trinity University (DC), and University of Maryland, College Park. As a consultant, she conducts professional development workshops, designs and evaluates curriculum, and assists school districts and organizations develop resources that effectively meet the language needs of ELs. She is a recipient of the 2015 OSEP Culturally Responsive Educational Leaders in Special Education (CRELSE) Grant which provided full funding for her doctoral program. Her dissertation focused on paraeducators’ roles and responsibilities in supporting English Learners with disabilities.