Contextual Effects on Student Achievement: School Leadership and Professional Community

This paper contains empirical evidence of a positiverelationship between faculty relations and studentachievement in mathematics in U.S. high schools. Thefindings are based on composite measures ofprofessional community and transformational leadershipwhich were defined and constructed through comparisonsof theoretical models from studies of the socialorganization of schools. I find that the effects oftransformational leadership and professional communityare interdependent. However, these two processes arenot equally dependent on each other. Professionalcommunity only has a positive effect on studentachievement in mathematics in schools whose teachersexperience above average transformational leadership. I also find that these effects are strongest in lowersocioeconomic status (SES) schools. Thus, I confirmfindings from in-depth studies and studies ofpurposeful samples that the social organization ofteachers and administrators within schools can affectstudent achievement.     

Early Responsiveness to Intensive Behavioural Intervention Predicts Outcomes Among Preschool Children with Autism

Archival data from a private day‐school offering early intensive behavioural intervention based on the principles of applied behaviour analysis to preschoolers with autism (N = 29) were analysed longitudinally. Teacher reports on the Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills (ABLLS) were available up to 4 times and on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales—Classroom Edition (VABS‐CE), at 2 time points. Parent reports on the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) were available at 2 time points. All assessments occurred approximately at 6‐month intervals. Children showed statistically significant progress across all skill domains on the ABLLS and on selected subscales and the composite scales of the VABS‐CE and ATEC. Gains were substantial for some children and minor for others. When divided into performance‐based groups, both higher‐performing and lower‐performing groups showed improvement over time, with greater improvement for the higher‐performing group. Nine of 16 children who had been discharged from the programme entered inclusive kindergarten or first‐grade classrooms with an aide. Seven discharged children entered special education classrooms. No child progressed to the point that special education services were not needed. Findings are discussed relevant to the extant literature on early intensive behavioural intervention outcomes among young children with autism.