One School, Many Differences: An Assessment Tool for School Counselors and Multicultural Counseling

School Counselors and Multicultural Counseling Competencies: Are We as Competent as We Think We Are?

“…With a documented lack of culturally responsive P–12 services (Hussar & Bailey, 2014), there is a greater need for multicultural awareness and the assessment of perceived competence of school counselors (Cannon, 2010; Harris et al, 2018). School counselors are situated specifically to help support students’ academic, postsecondary, and social/emotional needs by advocating for multiculturally responsive educational systems that promote access for all students (American School Counselor Association [ASCA], 2021; Tadlock-Marlo et al, 2013). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between multicultural counseling competence (MCC) and a skill-based assessment of multicultural orientation (MCO) factors.…”

The Multicultural School Counseling Behavior Scale: Development, Psychometrics, and Use

“…Much of the self-report research on multicultural counseling competence has not included skills or behaviors (i.e., Chao, 2013;Holcomb-McCoy, 2000, 2005Holcomb-McCoy & Day-Vines, 2004;Owens et al, 2010;Tadlock-Marlo et al, 2013). The lack of focus on multicultural skills or behaviors could also be related to the absence of a multicultural skills subscale in the main multicultural counseling competence assessments used with school counselors: the MCCTS-R (Holcomb-McCoy & Day-Vines, 2004) and the more recently developed OSMD (Tadlock-Marlo et al, 2013). According to the ASCA (2012a) National Model, school counselors are expected to create and maintain a comprehensive school counseling program that includes school counseling core curriculum lessons, small groups, and individual sessions with students.…”

“…Multicultural counseling competence is widely recognized as necessary for all counselors, including school counselors, and research overwhelmingly has focused on self-report measures of this construct, such as the MCI (Sodowsky et al, 1994), the MCKAS (Ponterotto et al, 2002), MCCTS (Holcomb-McCoy & Myers, 1999), the MCCTS-R (Holcomb-McCoy & Day-Vines, 2004), and the CCCI-R (LaFromboise et al, 1991), which was developed for use by supervisors to rate the multicultural counseling competence of supervisees. With the exception of the MCCTS-R, all the scales mentioned previously were developed and originally normed with clinical mental health counselors, not school counselors (Tadlock-Marlo, Zyromski, Asner-Self, & Sheng, 2013). Tadlock-Marlo and colleagues (2013) developed a scale based on the ASCA (2016) ethical standards and those of the AMCD.…”

“…With the exception of the MCCTS-R, all the scales mentioned previously were developed and originally normed with clinical mental health counselors, not school counselors (Tadlock-Marlo, Zyromski, Asner-Self, & Sheng, 2013). Tadlock-Marlo and colleagues (2013) developed a scale based on the ASCA (2016) ethical standards and those of the AMCD. Their scale, One School, Many Differences (OSMD), originally included five domains: (a) collaboration, (b) assessment, (c) curriculum and school environment, (d) counseling skills, and (e) personal factors.…”

“…The multicultural behaviors of school counselors have been described in documents such as the ASCA (2010, 2016) ethical codes and the ASCA (2015) position statement on diversity, but the need remains for an instrument to quantify school counselor multicultural behaviors. Much of the self-report research on multicultural counseling competence has not included skills or behaviors (i.e., Chao, 2013; Constantine et al, 2001; Holcomb-McCoy, 2000, 2005; Holcomb-McCoy & Day-Vines, 2004; Owens et al, 2010; Tadlock-Marlo et al, 2013). The lack of focus on multicultural skills or behaviors could also be related to the absence of a multicultural skills subscale in the main multicultural counseling competence assessments used with school counselors: the MCCTS-R (Holcomb-McCoy & Day-Vines, 2004) and the more recently developed OSMD (Tadlock-Marlo et al, 2013).…”