Christopher Johnstone

A Disability Rights in Education Model for evaluating inclusive education

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 from reports of international consumer organizations such as Disabled People’s International, Inclusion International, and the World Institute on Disability. The DRE Model draws from the interdisciplinary field of disability studies and is based on the philosophy that disability must be approached in its full social dimension as one of the central elements in every culture’s response to the full range of human difference. Conceptually, the DRE Model allows people to look at developments in Inclusive Education across widely disparate local and international contexts. An inclusive education project in Lesotho is described and analysed to explain the DRE Model’s dynamic processes more concretely, and to demonstrate its potential utility for evaluation and future planning.

Contributions and Constraints to the Implementation of Inclusive Education in Lesotho

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, Lesothos 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 that policy implementation was limited in both depth (the approaches to inclusive education in some schools) and breadth (the number of schools that have received training in inclusive education). Where implementation was present, perceived teacher knowledge and skill was a strong predictor of success and teachers had positive attitudes toward children with disabilities.

Statewide Testing of Reading and Possible Implications for Students With Disabilities

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. Results indicate that most constructs tested in statewide assessments are amenable to accommodations, but some present challenges (e.g., those that test foundational skills of reading such as phonemic awareness). Next steps are proposed, focusing on both paper-based and computerized statewide tests.

Disability, Culture, and Identity in India and USA

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 social impact of overt physical, sensory, and cognitive differences. He focuses on the relationship between an individual who has potentially stigmatizing conditions and the agents of social control, such as people in the community, who define stigma in their context. Friedson (1965) expanded Goffman’s stigma theory, specifically in terms of the field of rehabilitation. Research on disability and identity has since considered a wider range of possibilities. Rosalyn Benjamin Darling published her 2013 book, Disability and Identity: Negotiating Self in a Changing Society. In conducting research for this book, Darling found that there is a taxonomy of identities that may exist among persons with disabilities, including: (a) Resignation (passive focus on the challenges that are brought about by disability); (b) Normative typicality (a desire to hide disability and “pass” in the non-disabled world); (c) Personal activism (acceptance or pride for disability and orientation toward struggling for personal rights); (d) Affirmative activism (acceptance and pride for disability and orientation toward societal change and reform related to disability); and (e) Affirmative typicality (an acceptance of disability but the desire to live and work in mainstream environments).

25 Hours in Family: How Family Internships Can Help School Leaders Transform from Within

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 our professional development. Key lessons include: (1) the realization that disability is a socially-constructed term that does not describe the talents, feelings, and aspirations of individuals with disabilities; (2) increased knowledge and strategies about how school leaders can provide support to families by listening to their hopes, dreams, and challenges; and (3) the critical need to include families in decision-making processes to ensure that the family perspective is represented. Important structural components of the internship experience included spending time with families in their homes and communities for extended periods of time. Implications for the preparation of educational leaders are discussed.