Meet Our Board of Directors

Beverley Holden Johns has 40 years experience working with students with learning disabilities (LD), and/or behavioral disorders (EBD) within the public schools. She supervised LD and EBD teachers in 22 school districts, was the founder and administrator of the Garrison Alternative School for students with severe EBD in Jacksonville, Illinois, and later the coordinator for staff development for the Four Rivers Special Education District. She is now a learning and behavior consultant, and Professional Fellow for MacMurray College (where she teaches courses on Special Education Law, on EBD, Adaptations, and on Diverse Learners ). She also has taught a class on Autism at Illinois College.

She chaired the 10th Biennial Conference of the International Association of Special Education (IASE) held June 10-14, 2007, in Hong Kong, served as President from 2006 until January 1, 2010, and presided over the 11th Biennial Conference in Alicante, Spain in 2009. She presented the Inaugural Marden Lecture at The University of Hong Kong in January, 2006.

Johns is the lead author of 14 non-fiction books (and co-author of 4 others) including Your Classroom Guide to Special Education Law, 15 Positive Behavior Strategies to Increase Academic Success, 401 Practical Adaptations for Every Classroom, Reduction of School Violence: Alternatives to Suspension (4th edition); Techniques for Managing Verbally and Physically Aggressive Students (4th edition); Surviving Internal Politics Within the School (2nd edition); Safe Schools; Teacher’s Reflective Calendar and Planning Journal; Special Educator’s Reflective Calendar and Planning Journal; Effective Curriculum and Instruction for Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders; Students with Disabilities and General Education: A Desktop Reference for School Personnel; Getting Behavioral Interventions Right (2nd edition); Preparing Test-Resistant Students for Assessments: A Staff Training Guide (Second Edition); Ethical Dilemmas in Education; Motivating the Unmotivated Student; and The Many Faces of Special Educators. She has written the workbook to accompany the video entitled: Paraprofessional’s Guide to Managing Student Behavior, and over 40 education and special education articles.

She has also written two books of fiction, Secrets of the Teachers’ Lounge, and Secrets in the School’s Emails. She has also co-authored the book, Acting on Clutter with Dr. Kammie Richter and Marilyn Myers.

She wrote and appeared in a DVD for ASCD, Conducting an Effective IEP Meeting Connecting to the Common Core, and wrote an on-line course for ASCD, Role of the Classroom Teacher in Implementing the Common Core for Students with Disabilities.

She is co-author with Janet Lerner of the seminal college LD textbook, the 13th edition of Learning Disabilities and Related Disabilities.

She is the 2000 recipient of the CEC Outstanding Leadership Award from the International Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), Past International President of the Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders (CCBD), Past President of the CEC Pioneers, Past Secretary and Governmental Relations Chair for the Division for Learning Disabilities (DLD), and the 2007 Recipient of the Romaine P. Mackie Leadership Service Award.

For 3 years, Johns served as Chair of CEC’s Advocacy and Governmental Relations Committee.

She is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who of American Women, Who’s Who in American Education and Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers. She has chaired ISELA, the Illinois Special Education Coalition (whose membership includes 12 Statewide organizations) for 38 years.

Johns is a Past President, Past Drive-in Chair, and current Governmental Relations Chair for Illinois DLD. She is the President-Elect of the Learning Disabilities Association (LDA) of Illinois and has been the National State Presidents’ Representative on the Board of LDA of America.

She has served Illinois CEC as Past President, as Past Governor to CEC, as past PAN and CAN Chair, and past Fall Convention Chair and past Governmental Relations Chair. She is the ILCCBD liaison to Illinois CEC.

She currently serves as a Regional Coordinator for the Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders and is chair of the annual drive in conference for Illinois CCBD.

She was Jacksonville Woman of the Year in 1988, co-chaired the Business Education Partnership Committee and the Jacksonville Truancy Task Force.

She has presented workshops across the United States and Canada; in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Sydney, Australia (keynote); Warsaw, Poland; Wroclaw, Poland (keynote); Hong Kong, China; Lima, Peru; and Riga, Latvia.

She is a graduate of Catherine Spalding College in Louisville, Kentucky, and received a fellowship for her graduate work at Southern Illinois University (SIU) in Carbondale where she received an M.S. in Special Education. She has done post-graduate work at the University of Illinois, Western Illinois University, SIU, and Eastern Illinois University.