, Author at Don Johnston

Snap&Read now reads math + EquatIO = a beautiful union

February 11, 2022

Let’s start with a word problem: 3-6% of elementary schoolers have dyscalculia, a math-related learning disability. 5-20% of learners have dyslexia, a reading-related learning disability. With ~53 million K-12 learners in the US and a ~40% co-occurrence of the two learning disabilities (meaning that 40% of people with dyslexia also have dyscalculia and vice versa) … Continued

Recent changes to Google Docs stopped some accessibility tools from working.

February 11, 2022

By Josh Maglasang

Google Docs recently changed the way they render text (from HTML to something called Canvas). The important thing to understand is that this change took away ALL of the information that accessibility tools needed to be able to work in Google docs. Speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and word prediction all relied on HTML rendering in Google Docs, … Continued

If you had unlimited power and resources, what kind of schools would you create?

January 21, 2022

By Josh Maglasang

WELCOME to Becky Covalt’s imagination, where she’s constructed the ideal school district from the ground up. It’s a place absent staffing shortages and pandemics and violence, one that goes above and beyond the first tier of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It’s beautiful here, and we can’t wait for you to see it. It’s a place … Continued

2021 Don Johnston Incorporated Highlight Reel

January 18, 2022

By Josh Maglasang

As we bid adieu to a year that was many things to many people, we’re looking over our shoulder at what we’ve published this year. In our line of sight is a lot of smart people speaking to various human issues big and small. Nuance, or all our subtle differences, make us human (and sometimes … Continued

Access to Grade Level Text: Screening students for read aloud accommodations at scale

May 14, 2021

By Josh Maglasang

“Even with 35 Years of Experience, We Could Not Reliably Estimate Which Students Could Benefit from a Reading Accommodation” ~Denise DeCoste In 2012, the Protocol for Accommodations in Reading (PAR) was developed as a printed manual. But the process was developed years prior to this, through the efforts of two assistive technology (AT) specialists with … Continued

Author: Josh Maglasang