Development of the Multicultural School Psychology Counseling Competency Scale

The purpose of this study was to begin to delineate competencies needed by school psychologists in the provision of counseling services to culturally diverse clients and to develop an exploratory measure of multicultural counseling competence in school psychology practice. The present article discusses the development and preliminary psychometric characteristics of the Multicultural School Psychology Counseling Competency Scale (MSPCCS). The MSPCCS, which assesses trainers' perceptions of the multicultural school psychology counseling competencies of graduating trainees, was administered to a national sample of directors of school psychology training programs. Preliminary findings, based on a 57% return rate, suggest that the scale has good internal consistency reliability. Results of the factor analysis support a one factor solution for the scale. Specific considerations in the use of the scale are discussed, and suggestions for future research are presented. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.