Implementation fidelity and common elements of high quality teaching sequences for students with autism spectrum disorder in COMPASS

Background: Evidence-based educational instruction includes teaching elements common across different approaches as well as specific elements of the chosen evidence-based practice. We were interested in evaluating the use and impact of common elements of teaching. Specifically, we adopted a model of elements of high quality teaching sequences and developed and tested an instructional quality index to capture evidence-based features within teaching sequences (Grisham-Brown & Ruble, 2014). Method: The current investigation examined 29 special education teachers who received a consultation intervention called the Collaborative Model for Promoting Competence and Success (Ruble, Dalrymple, & McGrew, 2012; Ruble, McGrew, & Toland, 2012) that results in personalized teaching plans for young students with ASD and embeds elements of evidence-based teacher coaching of self-reflection and performance-based feedback. We analyzed the teaching plans to understand which of the common elements were present, and if teachers demonstrated improved performance after coaching. Results: Analysis of the use of common elements during the first and fourth coaching session demonstrated that all teachers showed improvement. Most importantly, the use of common elements correlated with student goal attainment outcomes. Conclusions: These results suggest that common elements of teaching sequences which we view as core features of teaching quality, can be improved as a result of coaching, and most importantly, are associated with students’ educational outcomes.