Ableism is a deficit orientation towards people with ways to “move, communicate, behave, and think” that are different than those that are socially defined as typical (Radd, 2021, p. 70).

The ability-disability continuum is a social construct wherein similar experiences are labelled. When these labels are used to qualify human experiences, it creates an implicit hierarchy that ascribes greater value to some manifestations than others (Radd et al., 2021). 

Adaptation refers to the type of support or accommodation in the way that a student receives information, processes, or expresses the same learning outcomes as their peers (e.g., alternative instruction, materials, environment, or assessment). Often compared to the entirely different concept of Modification where the learning outcomes themselves are adjusted (e.g., from a lower grade level). 

CLD Culturally and Linguistically Diverse learners. These learners come from a minority cultural or linguistic context (e.g., a child who speaks Spanish at home, but attends school in English). English Language Learners, or many immigrant or refugee learners may be described this way in the literature. 

French Immersion (FI) is a specific learning context in public schools in BC. FI teachers practice content-based language learning, wherein students develop linguistic proficiency in French through content areas like math, social studies, and science. In this context, French is the minority language, and English is the majority language. In BC, FI is a Program of Choice: a specialized (and therefore 'optional') program offered in some districts. 

Evidence-based inclusive pedagogies are practices that have been documented in peer-reviewed research to improve student access, participation, and achievement.  

Equal is used to describe an amount, phenomenon, or treatment that is distributed or administered in the same measure among all recipients (e.g., the same size slice of pizza, with the same toppings). 

Equitable is used to describe a similar distribution, but is adjusted and allocated based on need (e.g., pizza with no cheese and/or a gluten free crust). There are many uncontroversial examples in schools every day: some children have glasses, others do not; some children have braces, others do not. 

According to Ainscow (2005, p. 9) Inclusive Pedagogy (IP) is: 

• a process, not a product

• the identification and removal of barriers

• the presence, participation, and achievement of all

• emphasis on learners at-risk of marginalization, exclusion, or under-achievement

Job Demands-Resources Theory was coined in 2001 by Demerouti et al. that suggests employee engagement and motivation is a function of the balance between Demands and Resources: 

Demands are stressful aspects of a job that require sustained effort, whereas Resources are 'demand-buffering' things that help employees accomplish work goals. The experience or perception that resources exceed demands creates engagement, but the management of an excess of resources can actually become a demand. 

L1, L2, L+ are each different acronyms that are commonly encountered in research and resources for language learning. L1 refers to a learner's first language, while L2 refers to a their second. L+ is less standardized in the literature: sometimes it refers to any language after the first, sometimes it refers to a language after L2,  others it refers to language learning in general.

Language modernization: The most recent update of the BC Ministry of Education and Child Care’s Inclusive Education Services manual formalized the use of ‘inclusive education’ and ‘student with disabilities or diverse abilities’ (Government of BC, 2024a).

A medical model of disability is predicated on the implicit assumption that such differences are bad and need correction or repair (Zaks, 2023), and it conflates the definitions of impairment and disability; whereas the social model of disability distinguishes between them: 

impairment is an individual’s “physical, sensory, or cognitive difference (for example, being blind or deaf…)” whereas disability is “the social consequences of having an impairment” (Neff, 2022).

Minority Language Educational Rights are guaranteed by Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. These rights allow the children of parents who were educated in a Minority Official Language (typically in French outside Quebec, and English inside Quebec) to have their children educated in the same language

Monolingual bias is when multilingual speakers are evaluated against measures that presume monolingual competence in each language. Developmentally, monolingualism (one language), bilingualism (two languages), and multilingualism (multiple languages) are not interchangeable: the progression of language acquisition is different, linguistic competencies are distributed across languages, and cross-linguistic influence should be expected (Genesee, 2022).

Neurodivergence (ND) is a relatively new term, and is therefore under-theorized in the currently available literature. Here, it has been used as a broad construct to include a spectrum of differences in and among executive function, language processing, self- and social regulation skills. Specifically, students meeting Ministry Category Checklists for: Autism Spectrum Disorder (Category G), Intensive Behaviour Support/Serious Mental Illness (Category H); Moderate Behaviour Support/Mental Illness (Category R). Cognitive categories (C, K Intellectual Disability: Q Learning Disability, and P Giftedness) were omitted intentionally given the complexity surrounding the monolingual bias inherent in the diagnostic criteria. 

Occupational Justice (OJ) is the notion that ALL people should benefit equitably from resources and opportunities to participate in the occupations of life. For elementary students, such occupations include: learning, socializing, playing, and collaborating.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) refers to the work of CAST. The philosophy espouses designing multiple opportunities for Engagement, Representation, and Action and Expression that capture ALL learners from the outset, rather than offering adaptations or modifications after the fact.