Christopher Johnstone

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at University of Minnesota

This article reports on an ethnographically-informed case study of a Canadian university that is experiencing growth and systems change through three initiatives: internationalization, intercultural education, and Indigenization. The article describes the goals of internationalization and “interculturalization” (a term coined at the university) at...

This article provides an overview of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), an educational strategy designed to provide curricular access to a wide diversity of children, including children with disabilities. UDL builds on principles originally conceptualized in accessible architecture and focuses on the various ways that curriculum can be presented,...

This chapter examines the construction and early implementation of SDG 4 and asks if inclusion is indeed seen as essential for quality or if these concepts are treated independently. Often hailed as a milestone by advocates of inclusive education, as SDG 4 was put into practice, the big tent coalition and understanding of inclusion as quality appea...

This article examines the limitations of developing youth programs through solely a human capital framework. While there is undoubtedly a strong connection between skills development and potential economic opportunity, our findings reveal that the story of youth who manage to navigate difficult economic environments is complex and nuanced. The arti...

This article aims to conceptualise contemporary understandings of ‘inclusive development’. The article draws upon two conceptual models: plural/universal rights (Mégret, 2008, 10.1353/hrq.0.0000) and social–relational inclusion (Gupta & Vegelin, 2016, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-016-9323-z) to demonstrate how ‘inclusion’ is understood concerning...

As more universities internationalize, interest in engagement between international and domestic students has increased. University initiatives to bring students together often adopt a deficit approach dependent on international students’ “adjustment” to the host culture, overlooking the need for adjustment to be a two-way exchange and the role of...

This study reports on findings from 25 semi-structured, individual interviews with participants with visual, hearing, or mobility disabilities in India focusing on stigmatization and resilience, and how they are constructed within Indian sociocultural contexts. Participants’ experiences of disability and stigmatization were alleviated or exacerbate...

This volume charts the rise of the concept of "inclusive development" and simultaneously recognizes its problematic implications as it shifts the focus of development work from efficiency to justice. In response to increasing awareness that development projects can all too often lead to the exclusion of marginalized populations, Considering Inclus...

Study abroad is a high impact practice, touted as a tool for developing global and intercultural awareness. In 2017/18, of the nearly 350,000 U.S. students who studied abroad, sixty-five percent participated in “short-term” programs (IIE, 2018). Short-term programs are often administered as group opportunities, in which students undertake experient...

In this article, we examine how the concept of world-class universities has emerged in Chinese higher education at both the sectoral and institutional level. We examine policy decisions related to creating world-class universities on China’s mainland and institutional responses to these policies. We then read these policies through “cultural script...

In this introduction to the special issue, we argue that inclusive education research should move beyond a traditional 'deficit' approach, rooted in special education. The articles contained in this special issue represent new ways of conceptualizing, researching, and exploring inclusivity in education. In sum, this special issue makes the case tha...

Student mobility has become a key feature in the drive toward internationalization of higher education in the United States. International students contribute to the academic culture of universities, yet, often face isolation, discrimination, and experience difficulties transitioning to new environments. As a result, conational networks have formed...

This article focuses on the work of five civil society organizations in an urban environment in India that work with persons with disabilities. In this qualitative study we examine how leaders in these non-governmental organizations (NGOs) conceptualize disability and implement programming. These conceptualizations are examined through the lens of...

Student mobility is a key aspect of internationalization of higher education. Within the broad population of students who have the opportunity to study abroad, however, there are particular groups who are under-represented. In the United States, for example, approximately 11% of undergraduate students in postsecondary degree-granting institutions h...

The aim of this study was to better understand the gaps between policy and practice in inclusive education for the Republic of Serbia. The study compared the academic achievement in Mathematics of comparable students with mild intellectual disabilities (MID) in the fifth and sixth grade who attend typical elementary schools and special schools. A t...

Through comparative analysis (Armenia – USA), the textbook offers a wide spectrum of tools, methodologies, and practical evidence-based strategies that have been tested, evaluated, and demonstrated to be effective for all children, including children with disabilities, developmental delays, and other special education needs. This textbook compleme...

This article explores the potential of using children’s perceptions of distance to reflect a gendered understanding of remoteness. Data collected from 1,549 children in Tanzania concerning their perceptions of remoteness in relation to accessibility of school, health care, and water resources were analysed in reference to their impact on school att...

The Sage Handbook of Diversity and Inclusion in Education is a representation of a point in history of the diversity within inclusive education scholarship itself. From this perspective, we argue that any Handbook that claims to be a definitive source is suspect. We present this book as an attempt to take stock of scholarship on diversity and inclu...

Increasingly, colleges and universities across the United States are encouraging students to study abroad, citing enhanced cultural appreciation and critical thinking skills as intended outcomes. However, on every campus, there are students who cannot participate in learning-abroad opportunities because of visa, financial, familial, or other person...

This study examines the motivations and experiences of international and domestic students on three U.S. campuses related to cross-national interactions within classroom settings. The study also examines the role of instructors in facilitating such interactions through individual and group interviews. Findings indicate that domestic students apprec...

Around the world, stigmatization associated with disability poses persistent challenges to individuals’ social interactions and their experience of the “self”. This qualitative study examines how youth have experienced their own disabilities and self as they transition into adulthood and navigate stigmatization in their everyday interactions with o...

We examine pedagogical practices that facilitate international and domestic students’ interactions on two campuses of a U.S. public university. Findings highlight the central role of the instructor in supporting student interactions via pair and group work and collaborative assignments that result in increased understanding of class content. The st...

Across the Central Eastern European region, inclusive education has become a policy aim. Europeanization, influence of United Nations agencies, and shifts away from Soviet models of education have led to new policy aspirations for the inclusion of children with special education needs (SEN). At the same time, policies in many countries often lack t...

In this article we report on our study that explored internationalization in higher education institutions as it relates to two levels of “culture” -- institutional culture and national higher education culture. We examined two leading research-intensive universities, “Coastal University” (Australia) and “Prairie University” (U.S.A.), which have si...

Standardized, large‐scale assessment of educational outcomes has become a global phenomenon over the past three decades (Smith, 2016). A key challenge facing assessment designers is that standard formats may be inaccessible or may create barriers to student performance. Schwanke, Smith, and Edyburn's (2001) A3 model describes how advocates have rea...

We examine pedagogical practices that facilitate international and domestic students’ interactions on two campuses of a U.S. public university. Findings highlight the central role of the instructor in supporting student interactions via pair and group work and collaborative assignments that result in increased understanding of class content. The st...

In 1963, Erving Goffman was one of the first scholars in the world to identify the concept of identity as it relates to disability. In his Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, Goffman theorized that persons with disability often have “spoiled” identity formation related to the construction of disability stigma and the negative socia...

By 2015, 96% of the entire student body in the Danish public school system must receive his or her education within the regular classrooms, and referrals to segregated special education must be reduced radically. This is the consequence of the so-called ‘Inclusion Law' passed in the Danish parliament in April 2012. The law contains a political ambi...

This brief provides an overview and rationales for the collaboration of Equity and Diversity and Internationalization offices in higher education institutions. Building on the momentum of AIEA’s October 5, 2014 webinar focusing on the same topic, this brief seeks to explore and expand upon themes discussed by Dr. Harvey Charles and Dr. Benjamin Ree...

Validly assessing students with disabilities has been a challenge for decades but is increasingly vital to educational policy and practice in the current era of accountability. Numerous technological and policy developments have occurred in the past several years with the emergence and decline of various forms of alternate assessments. This study w...

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Education (MOE) have partnered since the late 1990s to transition the country’s post-Soviet era education system toward a learner-centered system that encourages student participation, independent thinking, and a deeper understanding of concepts through an Active Learning (AL)...

See https://www.hetl.org/hetl-review/page/28/ for full article.

Large-scale assessment practice has moved consistently from a paper-and-pencil exercise to online assessments over the past decade. New formats for testing allow for new opportunities to provide students with disabilities access to items so that they may most validly demonstrate their knowledge. In this study, we investigated an online auditory fea...

Kenya is geographically situated in East Africa and attained its independence from Britain in 1963. In 1964 the country's population was 9.1 million (Karanja, 1966). Kenya's populace has since grown to 38,610,097 people according to the latest population census results carried out by the government in 2009. Mortality rate for children under 5 years...

The 2006 United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was an important and landmark treaty recognizing the human rights of persons with disabilities. In this article we focus on the educational rights of children with disabilities as directed by the Convention, specifically the right to receive an inclusive education. W...

This article represents one outcome from the Invitational Research Symposium on Technology-Enabled and Universally Designed Assessments, which examined technology-enabled assessments (TEA) and universal design (UD) as they relate to students with disabilities (SWD). It was developed to stimulate research into TEAs designed to better understand the...

This article reports on findings from a review of statewide large-scale test blueprints. The qualitative and descriptive numerical review of themes found in state blueprints provides information on trends in statewide reading assessments. These trends are then set against the backdrop of testing accommodations for students with disabilities. Result...

Kenya has 41 Deaf schools that serve children from Class 1 through secondary school. These schools are all characterised by the fact that they have very few teachers who are fluent in Kenyan sign language. In order to meet the needs of schools and to provide employment opportunities for Deaf Kenyan adults, a small non-governmental organisation iden...

This report is the culmination of a study on inclusive education in Macedonia. The study examined stakeholder perceptions, national policies, and school-based practices. Specific foci of the study were on students with special education needs which according to the definition of the Child-Friendly School concept identifies three major subgroups: ch...

This manuscript examines results from a national survey of teachers in Trinidad and Tobago. Data from this study were derived from a national survey conducted by the consulting firm Miske Witt and Associates for the Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Education. The aim of the survey was to solicit broad-based perspectives on teachers' knowledge and at...

This article reports on a study that investigated the extent to which central ministry policy initiatives result in large‐scale educational change in developing countries. Specifically, Lesotho's policy of inclusive special education was examined as a case study. The study employed a multi‐method approach to yield a large data‐set. Results indicate...

Assistive technology approaches to aid students with visual impairments are becoming commonplace in schools. These approaches, however, present challenges for assessment because students' level of access to different technologies may vary by school district and state. To better understand what assistive technology tools are used in reading instruct...

The purpose of this article was to investigate the challenges that school superintendents face in the era of accountability. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act has forced schools to think carefully about processes of teaching and learning. Superintendents, who guide districts in all activities, have been faced with the challenge of improving outco...

Test items undergo multiple iterations of review before states and vendors deem them acceptable to be placed in a live statewide assessment. This article reviews three approaches that can add validity evidence to states' item review processes. The first process is a structured sensitivity review process that focuses on universal design consideratio...

This article examines topics found in reading standards for K–12 education and then examines the standards from a perspective of accessibility for students with a variety of sensory and learning disabilities. The article begins by first determining how broad or limiting states' reading standards are in coverage and whether focus on particular stand...

Building on research and practice, the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) has revisited and updated its 2001 document that identified principles and characteristics that underlie inclusive assessment and accountability systems. This report on a principled approach to accountability assessments for students with disabilities reflects les...

Contemporary American educational culture is dominated by accountability requirements for all students, including students who are deaf. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 requires states to ensure that all students meet certain expected levels of academic proficiency and that all schools meet goals for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Thes...

This document reports on research related to large-scale assessments for students with learning disabilities in the area of reading. As part of a process of making assessments more universally designed the authors examined the role of "readable and comprehensible" test items (Thompson, Johnstone, & Thurlow, 2002). In this research, they used think...

This article describes research that used the think-aloud method to elicit responses from students on released high stakes test items. Four students who were English language proficient and four students whose first language was Spanish completed a mini-test made up of four mathematics items. In the process of thinking aloud, the students revealed...

This article describes the ways in which a 25-hour internship with families who have children with disabilities impacted four doctoral students in educational leadership. We discuss the lessons we learned as a result of our experiences and provide insight into the structural components of the internship experience that were critical to enhancing ou...

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) requires the reporting of participation in assessments overall and by subgroup, including students with disabilities. As states and school districts strive to meet the goals for adequate yearly progress required by NCLB, the use of individual accommodations continues to be scrutinized for effectiveness, t...

Because of recent legislative mandates, students with disabilities have unprecedented opportunities to attend institutions of higher education. Access to instruction and assessment is provided through the use of reasonable accommodations. However, such accommodations are legally and procedurally complex. This article addresses the legal and procedu...

This article is a synopsis of articles found in this special issue of the Review of Disability Studies that focused on disability and disaster. In this article, information is gleaned and summarized from all the historical, research, and current events discussed in this issue. As part of the synopsis, the question is posed, " How can Disability Stu...

This article is a research-to-practice example of how to use elements of Universal Design for Learning and Assessment in a middle school. Through a collaborative effort of researchers, teachers and graphic designers, existing research was made accessible and useful to teachers when it was applied to study guides and classroom assessments. Students...

Current models for evaluating inclusive education programs tend to examine surface-level stricture of day-to-day practices in the organization and operation of schools and also lack significant input from disabled people. In response, the authors have developed a DRE Model to understand and evaluate effective Inclusive Education that is derived fro...

This report summarizes the tenth survey of state directors of special education by the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) at the University of Minnesota. Results include all 50 states and six of the eleven federally funded entities (unique states). The purpose of this report is to provide a snapshot of the new initiatives, trends, accom...

This paper reports on educational research conducted in Lesotho, Southern Africa. Mixed methods of research were used to elicit and describe teachers’ attitudes toward children they perceived as disabled. The study took place in a country where discussions on ‘the continuum’ of services, specialist diagnoses, and Western notions of assistive techno...

see http://www.dsq-sds.org/article/view/880/1055

This paper explores the development of universal design and considers its application to large-scale assessments. Universal design is a concept that originated in the field of architecture, but quickly expanded into environmental initiatives, recreation, the arts, health care, and now, education. In addition to the concept's application to instruct...