Heterogeneity in autism impairs efforts to localize and identify the genes underlying this disorder. As autism comprises severe but variable deficits and traits in three symptom domains (social interaction, communication, and repetitive behaviors) and shows variability in the presence and emergence of useful phrase speech, different genetic factors may be associated with each. The affected cases (n=457) in multiply affected siblingships (n=212), including a proband with autism and one or more siblings with either autism or marked deficits in autism symptom domains, were assessed using the Autism Diagnostic Interview, Revised. Symptom domain scores and language features were examined to determine their similarity within siblingships. The variance within siblingships was reduced for the repetitive behavior domain and for delays in and the presence of useful phrase speech. These features and the nonverbal communication subdomain provided evidence of familiality when we considered only the diagnosis of autism to define multiply affected siblingships (cases: n=289; siblingships: n=136). In addition, the same familial features identified also appeared familial for those with autism-related conditions. Finally, the level of severity of almost all of the familial features varied within multiplex siblingships independently. The features identified as familial replicate the combined set suggested in earlier, smaller studies. Furthermore, the familiality of these features extend to related conditions of milder severity than autism and appear to be independent. Making distinctions among families by the severity of these features may be useful for identifying more genetically homogeneous subgroups in studies targeted at genes for specific autism-related symptom domains.

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Borderlands of practice are spaces where teachers are engaged in negotiating multiple conceptions of "best practices" within their daily teaching practice. Teachers at work in borderlands must actively negotiate varied conceptions, expectations, and assumptions about what is "best" for their students. These conceptions often challenge teacher professional knowledge and can result in a sense of dissonance about how to best meet the needs of students. Using a case study of one veteran teacher's sense-making processes in her first year of teaching pre-Kindergarten, this article explores how a theoretical lens of dissonance might help researchers and teacher educators to better understand and support teacher identity formation in borderlands of practice.

In this article, the author examines the ways in which a classroom quality metric framed the teaching and learning experiences of teachers and children in three Head Start classrooms. Using comic subjectivity theory, the author critically analyzes the ways in which the high-stakes classroom quality measure used in Head Start settings directed her gaze as a researcher, and had implications for teachers’ practice and children’s learning within the site of this gaze. This analysis raises questions about expectations for teachers’ performativity, the role of researchers’ complicity, and how children’s learning is conceptualized in early childhood classrooms that are heavily accountable to outside forces. This article also considers what the costs may be for teachers and children in early childhood settings where quality is conceptualized in ways that stand in stark contrast to teachers’ professional and personal knowledge. In these sites, their knowledge of and engagement with children is made subject to measure-directed regimes in the current accountability-driven era.

Accountability in education has prompted policy makers and practitioners to focus on data use for instructional and organizational decision-making. The popular media have seized on Value Added (VA) measures as a key type of data use for reforming U.S. schools. Among education researchers, however, there are both critics and proponents. We examined data use by the district leaders and staff members of 12 schools in a large urban district, with attention to the role VA metrics play in their decisions and their conceptions of themselves. VA is only one of many types of data that can be used to portray quality. While there was a soft relationship between VA and classroom quality measured by CLASS, we found that understanding the schools' contexts, particularly the use of resources and the coherence of actions to improve student achievement, greatly enhanced the power of our descriptions. As a result, we suggest that policies promoting multidimensional approaches to quality will better capture the complexity of education. Keywords: value added, quality, ecological framework, data use, reform Resumen: programas de responsabilidad educativa (accountability) han impulsado el "uso de información" (data use) entre responsables de implementar políticas y educadores profesionales tanto para decidir sobre cuestiones de instrucción como en decisiones sobre organización. Los medios de comunicación se han enfocado en los modelos de Valor Añadido (MVA) como un tipo clave de "uso de información" para reformar las escuelas estadounidenses. Entre los investigadores en educación, sin embargo, hay tanto críticos y como proponentes de MVAs. Examinamos el "uso de información" por directores, profesionales en 12 escuelas en un distrito urbano de gran tamaño, especialmente el papel que las medidas de MVAs tuvieron en sus decisiones y sus concepciones sobre sí mismos. MVAs es sólo uno de los muchos tipos de "usos de información" que pueden ser utilizados para indiicar calidad. Si bien hay una relación moderada entre MVA y calidad de la enseñanza medidas por CLASS, encontramos que la comprensión de los contextos escolares, especialmente el uso de los recursos y la coherencia de las acciones para mejorar el logro de los estudiantes, aumentó en gran medida el poder de nuestras descripciones. Sugerimos que las políticas que promueven enfoques multidimensionales de calidad captan mejor la complejidad de los sistemas educativos. Palabras clave: modelos de valor agregado; calidad; marco ecológico; uso de información; reforma. Ecologias de qualidade educativa.Resumo: Os programas de A responsabilidade educacionais (accountability) estão empurrando o "uso da informação" (uso de dados) aos responsáveis pela implementação de políticas e educadores nos processos de toma de decisões sobre questões educacionais e organizacionais. Os meios de comunicação têm-se centrado em modelos de valor agregado (MVA) como a questão chave no "uso de informação" para reformar as escolas americanas. Entre os pesquisadores de educação, no entanto, existem tant...