Development of an instrument to assess the counseling needs of elementary school students

Professional School Counseling, Oct, 2003 by Diane Wittmer Thompson, Larry C. Loesch, Anne E. Seraphine

The assessment of students' counseling needs as an integral component of development and implementation of an effective school counseling program is widely recognized. Unfortunately, however, this mandate has been hindered by lack of a psychometrically sound measure of students' counseling needs. Therefore, the Intermediate Elementary Students Counseling Needs Survey was created to alleviate this situation. Its development, psychometric properties, and potential applications are presented in this article.

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One of Dr. Laurence Peter's (1979) contributions to folksy wisdom was that, "If you don't know where you're going, you'll probably wind up someplace else." For school counselors, this wisdom suggests that school counseling programs should have clear purposes and direction. Schmidt (1999) made the point succinctly:

   Implementing a [school counseling] program that is void of clear
   goals and objectives is like piloting a plane without a flight plan.
   The plane is airborne, all instruments are working, but the pilot
   has no idea where the plane is heading or why it is going in a given
   direction. (p. 40)

Because of the general understanding that school counseling programs should be goal directed, innumerable professionals have offered innumerable ideas about what should be the goals and objectives for school counseling programs, especially in elementary schools. Yet while numerous potential purposes can be promoted, surely being responsive to the specific counseling needs of elementary school students must be central among them.

Authorities in developmental school counseling (e.g., Baker, 1999; Gysbers & Henderson, 2000; Myrick, 1997; Schmidt, 1999; Wittmer, 2000) advocate that the counseling and other needs of the school population, and in particular the students, should be determined early in the program development process so that an effective developmental school counseling program can be built to be responsive to them. However, school counseling programs can be modified and improved even if the students' needs are assessed within the context of an ongoing program. In either case, effective assessment of students' counseling needs is a crucial component in the implementation of an effective school counseling program.

It is surprising that while the assessment of students' counseling needs has been widely advocated, very few specifics have been offered about how their needs are to be assessed. As a result, a variety of needs-assessment methodologies has been suggested, often with emphasis on taking a relatively simplistic and subjective approach to information gathering (e.g., Wittmer, 2000). More recently, however, at least one specific guideline has been presented: assessment and evaluation of students' counseling needs should be data-based. For example, this position is strongly endorsed in the recently presented elements of the American School Counselor Association National Model for School Counseling Programs.

   A comprehensive school counseling program is data driven. The use
   of data to effect change within the school system is integral to
   ensuring that every student receives the benefit of the school
   counseling program. School counselors must show that each activity
   implemented as part of the program was developed from a careful
   analysis of students' needs, achievement and/or related data.
   [emphasis added]

Clearly, the data obtained from an assessment methodology used for any professional purpose should be psychometrically appropriate and sound (Gall, Gall, & Borg, 2003).

Unfortunately, even in light of recognition of the importance of conducting a data-based needs assessment in elementary school counseling programs, little evidence exists that elementary school counselors are conducting need assessments (data-based or otherwise), and there is scant evidence that the few needs assessments being conducted are using psychometrically sound methodology. Why this situation exists in view of the many professional recommendations for use of needs assessment remains unexplained. However, it likely exists at least in part because there are not well-developed needs assessment instruments available to fulfill this programmatic function. Therefore, the research described here was undertaken to develop a psychometrically sound counseling needs assessment instrument appropriate for use with students in the upper three grades of an elementary school.

INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT

If an assessment instrument is to be both professionally credible and usable, it must be grounded in a framework that enjoys widespread and substantive endorsement. In regard to school counseling, clearly the ASCA National Standards for School Counseling Programs (ASCA, 1997) is the most well-recognized conceptual framework for an effective school counseling program. Indeed, "ACSA's National Standards/competencies are the foundation for the National Model" (ASCA, 2003). The focus of the National Standards is on three broad and interrelated areas of student development: (a) academic, (b) career, and (c) personal/social. Each of the three areas of student development include a variety of desired student learning competencies, which in turn are comprised of specific knowledge, attitudes, and skills that form the foundation for the developmental school counseling program (ASCA, 1997). Because of their integral relationship to an effective school counseling program, these three areas constituted the initial conceptual basis for the students' needs assessment instrument to be developed. The instrument is titled the Intermediate Elementary School Students Counseling Needs Survey (IESCNS).