School Counselor Beliefs about ASCA National Model School Counseling Program Components Using the SCPCS

Abstract

A study of 3,000 school counselors was undertaken to assess their beliefs about necessary components ofa school counseling program. This study was part of the database that the American School Counselor Association used to develop The ASCA National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs. The School Counseling Program Component Scale was developed for the study and demonstrated adequate reliability and validity as a measure of school counselor beliefs about school counseling program components. Suggestions for future school counselor research regarding school counseling program component beliefs are encouraged as the ASCA National Model® has been in use for over 5 years.

Comparison Findings of School Counselor Beliefs About ASCA National Model School Counseling Program Components Using the SCPCS

“…Information about the participants and procedures in the 2002 study can be found by consulting the original manuscript (Hatch & Chen-Hayes, 2008). The participants and procedures below describe the current study, with data collected in 2009.…”

“…This was accomplished by comparing data collected in 2009 with data collected in 2002 as reported by Hatch and Chen-Hayes (2008). Specifically, we sought to answer the following research questions:…”

“…The SCPCS was modified slightly for use in the 2009 study, based on feedback provided by Professional School Counseling reviewers (Hatch & Chen-Hayes, 2008). The original fivepoint scale, which ranged from 1 to 5 with named anchors at 1 (very important), 3 (moderately important), and 5 (not important), was modified to a three-point scale using only the named anchors of the original scale.…”

“…Respondents also ranked the use of data for the purposes of identifying achievement gaps and monitoring student progress as the least important in relationship to other activities (Hatch & Chen-Hayes, 2008). The authors suggested the low rankings for accountability measures may be a result of lack of training in how to collect, measure, analyze, and interpret data.…”

“…The authors suggested the low rankings for accountability measures may be a result of lack of training in how to collect, measure, analyze, and interpret data. Hatch and Chen-Hayes (2008) recommended that successful implementation of the ASCA National Model would begin when school counselors "understand the importance of developing data skills and then using data in both program management and accountability" (p. 40). identified the "gaps in the school counselors' ability to embrace and implement the new vision of comprehensive school counseling during the initial stages of implementation" (p. 182).…”