The school-wide cultural competence observation checklist for school counselors: an exploratory factor analysis

Professional School Counseling, April, 2008 by Judith A. Nelson, Rebecca M. Bustamante, Eric D. Wilson, Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie

LIMITATIONS

Interpretation of the present findings should take into account the study's limitations. The first limitation is the self-report nature of the study. When a self-report assessment is used for data collection, several confounding factors may influence participants' responses. Some participants may fear that their identities will be disclosed and, therefore, hesitate to be completely honest. Others may believe that the researchers have an idea of "correct" responses to the items and may select responses based on this belief (i.e., socially desirable responses). However, the fact that both scales yielded very high score reliability estimates suggests that the participants, in general, responded appropriately to the SCCOC. Nevertheless, more psychometric data should be collected on this instrument.

APPLICATION OF THE SCCOC

Although currently there is no assessment process in place for organizational cultural competence in the school setting, we rely on the limited literature (Bustamante, 2006; National Center for Cultural Competence, 2005; Sue, 2001; Wagner & Madsen-Copas, 2002) from other segments of the mental health field to guide us in thinking about possible ways to organize a culture audit in schools. School leaders might use the SCCOC to conduct culture audits to develop school improvement plans and comprehensive guidance programs. They can do this by forming culture audit teams or task forces comprising diverse groups of 6 to 10 people. Like site-based management teams, culture audit teams would be composed of formal and informal leaders in the school setting and would reflect the cultural diversity of the school context as much as possible. Administrators would not be the only team members as the views of teachers, students, parents, and staff members also would be represented. This team approach would elicit the multiple perspectives essential to a culture audit and ideally would enhance members' ability to tap into the subtleties of school culture.

As part of the overall culture audit, which might include surveys, focus group interviews, and analysis of preexisting data, individual audit team members can complete the SCCOC by providing a perceived rating for each item and noting or attaching evidence or documentation to support their ratings. Each individual team member first can complete the SCCOC based on his or her individual observations and perceptions. This ideally will enhance interrater reliability and increase observation data sources and perspectives. Culture audit members then would convene to compare their SCCOC ratings identifying strengths and areas for improving school-wide cultural competence. A mean score could be calculated for each item. Ideally, the objective would be to look for areas of strength and need as they relate to improving school-wide cultural competence.

The SCCOC as a diagnostic tool is designed to focus on areas for needed improvement to guide planning. Low and high scores and their meanings can be determined through future research on the instrument. Currently we recommend identifying outliers that may define the strengths and need areas of school-wide cultural competence. Attention to weaknesses or needs in certain areas (e.g., fiction and nonfiction books in the library and classrooms reflect the perspectives of diverse groups) is more important than a high or low total score on the SCCOC. Culture audit teams may develop cultural competence action plans by identifying and prioritizing, for example, three areas for improvement and developing short--and long-term goals that focus on those three areas. Once observed improvements have been made, the team then can consider strategies to enhance cultural competence in additional areas.