TPC Journal-Vol 10- Issue 3-FULL ISSUE

386 The Professional Counselor | Volume 10, Issue 3 The four factors of the SCKSS can be used to support improvement practices through the use of targeted professional development. This extends previous research that found when school counselors received MTSS-focused training, there was an increase in knowledge and skills (Olsen, Parikh-Foxx, et al., 2016). Accordingly, the four factors of the SCKSS may provide a baseline of school counselors’ knowledge and skills related to MTSS and help determine gaps that need to be addressed in pre-service and in-service training. Through targeted professional development and pre-service training activities, school districts and counselor educators can identify areas in which practitioners need additional training to increase knowledge and skills related to MTSS. The four factors of the SCKSS align with MTSS tiers and school counselor roles recommended in the ASCA National Model (2019a). The first factor, Individualized Supports and Practices, aligns with the role of school counselors providing individualized indirect services (e.g., data-based decision- making, referrals) for students who need Tier 3 supports (Ziomek-Daigle et al., 2019). The second factor, Schoolwide Supports and Practices, aligns with the role of school counselors providing Tier 1 universal supports (e.g., school counseling lessons, schoolwide initiatives, family workshops) for all students (Sink, 2019). The third factor, Targeted Supports and Practices, aligns with Tier 2 supports provided by school counselors, including small group counseling and psychoeducational group instruction for students who do not successfully respond to schoolwide support services (Olsen, 2019). Finally, the fourth factor, Collaborative Supports and Practices, aligns with the school counselor’s role across multiple tiers of support, providing access to community resources through appropriate referrals and collaborating and consulting with intervention teams (Cholewa & Laundy, 2019). The SCKSS survey can also be used to improve current school counseling practices. This is an important consideration given Patrikakou et al. (2016) found that although school counselors reported feeling prepared to deliver Tier 1 counseling support services, they felt least prepared to collect and analyze data to determine the effectiveness of interventions. Given that the ASCA National Model (2019a) has a theme entitled Assess, school counselors should be trained to engage in program improvements that move toward positively impacting students. As such, using the SCKSS to improve MTSS practices has the potential to improve ASCA National Model–related activities. Limitations There are several limitations in the current study. First, respondents were from a national school counseling association. Their responses could have been influenced by having access to professional development and literature related to MTSS. Second, this was a self-report survey, so the respondents could have answered in a manner that was socially desirable. Third, given the 30% survey return rate, generalizing these results to the population of counselors is not recommended. Fourth, rewording item 6 to an internally oriented question about delivery of the school counseling program rather than school counselors’ knowledge of another school service or system may have impacted the best fit model. Finally, because this was an online survey, only those with access to email and internet at the time of the survey had the opportunity to participate. Future Research Although participants in this study included a large national sample of school counselors, they were all members of a national association. Therefore, researchers could replicate this study with school counselors who are non-members and conduct further testing of the psychometric properties of the survey. Second, research could examine how professional development impacts specific aspects