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This article details the initial development of the School Counseling Program Implementation Survey and psychometric results including reliability and factor structure. An exploratory factor analysis revealed a three-factor model that accounted for 54% of the variance of the intercorrelation matrix and a two-factor model that accounted for 47% of the variance. Cronbach's alpha reliability estimates for subscales ranged from .79 to .87. Subscales of the instrument may be used to assess ASCA National Model program implementation, programmatic orientation, school counseling services, and school counselors' use of computer software.
The organization of school counseling activities within schools is a matter of professional concern (Gysbers, 2004). Leading scholars consistently maintain that organizing school counseling activities as a program within schools (as opposed to a set of ancillary support services) results in both enhanced student outcomes and greater legitimacy (e.g., Dahir, 2001; Gysbers, 1990; Gysbers & Henderson, 2006; Johnson & Johnson, 2003; Lapan, 2001). More recently, the American School Counselor Association (ASCA, 2005) has developed a national model for the organization of school counseling programs. ASCA has embarked on an ambitious initiative to encourage and facilitate the development and implementation of model programs nationwide in the hopes that such programs will enhance the effectiveness and centrality of school counseling within schools.
In spite of the perceived importance of and the resources devoted to organizing school counseling as a program, relatively little research has been conducted to investigate either the student outcomes or political advantages that are associated with a strong programmatic structure (Brown & Trusty, 2005; Gysbers, 2004). Such research has been hampered, in part, by a lack of instruments to measure variability in the programmatic characteristics and outcomes (Whitson, 2002; Whitson & Aricak, 2008). Without quantitative, empirically-based instruments measuring program characteristics, comparisons across studies are difficult.
Program-level studies have typically used instruments constructed for a specific research project. Lapan and colleagues used an aspect of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's school district evaluation process to determine, based on teacher report, the presence of school counseling activities that are consistent with four components of Missouri's model for comprehensive guidance programs (Lapan, Gysbers, & Sun, 1997; Lapan, Gysbers, & Petroski, 2001). Sink and Stroh (2003) developed a telephone survey, which served in part to classify...