TPC _Journal-Vol6_Issue_3-MTSS-Full_Issue

The Professional Counselor /Volume 6, Issue 3 237 Years in Practice 1–5 years 19 6–10 years 36 11–15 years 19 16+ years 26 Years Since Final Degree 1–5 years 27 6–10 years 34 11–15 years 17 16+ years 22 Measures The survey was originally developed for a statewide investigation of school-based professionals in response to RTI (Hollenbeck & Patrikakou, 2014), which was then adapted specifically for school counselors and administered in the same Midwestern state (Ockerman et al., 2015). It is important to note that survey items align with the ASCA National Model (2003, 2005, 2012). Specifically, questions paralleled the four ASCA model quadrants (foundation, delivery, management and accountability) and their four surrounding themes (advocacy, collaboration, leadership and systemic change). For example, survey questions, such as perceived preparedness for counseling interventions at each tier, represented the delivery component, and items about data collection and data management systems were representative of the accountability component. Themes also were assessed through survey questions, including items addressing leadership responsibilities and effective teamwork within the RTI framework (see Table 2 for scales and specific ASCA quadrants and themes). The purpose of the survey was to illuminate school counselors’ participation in RTI, as well as their underlying beliefs and attitudes, with the goal of providing insight into changing professional practices and future preparation needs. The survey was comprised of five parts. The first section addressed demographics (e.g., age, em- ployment status, years in the field ). The second section involved questions regarding RTI training and implementation (e.g., How many professional development sessions have you received in relation to RTI? What year did your school implement an RTI framework? ). The third section contained 14 Likert-type items asking participants about their perceived level of preparation toward specific aspects of RTI (e.g., underlying rationale, counseling interventions for Tier 1, schoolwide data management systems for docu- mentation and tier decision making ). The fourth part included 14 Likert-type questions measuring par- ticipants’ beliefs and practices (e.g., RTI is the best option to support struggling learners; RTI is a vehicle for promoting culturally responsive practices ). Lastly, the fifth section addressed changes to school counsel- ors’ responsibilities due to RTI via seven yes-no questions, such as I am now involved in data collection and/or data management in support of RTI decisions. In addition, an open-ended question encouraged participants to share any additional thoughts on RTI and its implementation. Procedure The authors obtained a list of members fromASCA who had noted that they wished to receive ASCA-approved, research-related mailings. Participants were then randomly selected from each of the 15 states that were reported as implementing RTI fully or partly (Zirkel, 2014). Surveys were mailed to those randomly selected participants along with a self-addressed, prepaid return envelope. No incen- tives were provided for returned surveys. From 2,477 surveys mailed, 528 were returned, for a 21.3% return rate, higher than other online surveys (Cochrane & Laux, 2008; Sullivan, Long, & Kucera, 2011).