Fall 2026 CTRP Newsletter

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Welcome Dr. Lisa Johnson as our Secretary/Treasurer

Dr. Johnson is an assistant teaching professor at Old Dominion University (ODU) in Norfolk, Virginia. Before transitioning to higher education, she spent nearly 20 years working as an ESL and Special Education classroom teacher at the elementary and middle school levels in southern New Jersey and in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana. At ODU, she serves as the program coordinator for the Adaptive Curriculum Certification track, where she advises graduate students seeking an endorsement or master’s degree in special education. She is the advisor for the Student Council for Exceptional Children and is the Virginia TESOL Blog editor and Virginia Council for Exceptional Children Treasurer. Dr. Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Loyola College in Maryland, a Master of Education degree in Elementary Education, and a second M.A. degree in Educational Psychology from Louisiana Tech University. She earned her Ed.D. in Special Education from Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania. Additionally, while she was working in the classroom, she earned her ESL and Supervisor endorsements from Stockton University in Pomona, NJ. Dr. Johnson currently serves as the treasurer/secretary of the Constructivist Research Theory and Practice SIG of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Her work focuses on asset-based language, asset mapping of communities related to transition special education services, social-emotional learning, and creating inclusive spaces that meet the needs of students with disabilities and multilingual learners.

Welcome Johna Wright as our Webmaster

Johna Wright is a Ph.D. student in Educational Leadership at Mercer University and an instructor of integrative studies. Her research explores disability in higher education, playful and constructivist learning, belonging, and self-advocacy. As a blind and autistic educator-scholar, she is especially interested in how learning environments can move beyond access as compliance to foster agency, joy, and meaningful participation. Her work connects play, exploration, and socially constructed learning to teaching and learning across the lifespan. She serves as Webmaster for AERA’s Constructivist Research Theory and Practice SIG.

Welcome John Burrell as our Program Chair

John Burrell is a fifth-year doctoral candidate at the Renzulli Center for Creativity, Giftedness, and Talent Development at the University of Connecticut. He has ten years of experience teaching middle school and high school math, science, and study skills, including three years with twice-exceptional students. His research interests involve seeing students and systems that have been historically misunderstood more clearly. John currently serves as a research assistant on Project EAGLE, a $2.9 million project developing equitable approaches to identifying gifted English Learners (ELs), and his dissertation explores contextual predictors of attention and learning among gifted-identified students with ADHD. He looks forward to supporting the SIG’s digital presence and engagement.