TEACHERS RATINGS OF EFFECTIVE SCHOOL-PSYCHOLOGY CONSULTANTS - AN EXPLORATORY FACTOR-ANALYSIS STUDY

Consultation research has focused especially on the process and implem entation of consultation, the clinical outcomes of consultation, and t he use of school psychology consultation by other school professionals . The present study used an empirically based scale designed to invest igate the characteristics and behaviors of effective consultants as pe rceived by a large sample of classroom teachers (a) to determine their perceptions of the consultants' effectiveness, (b) to compare the fac tor structure of the scale with previous research, and (c) to investig ate how the teachers' professional and demographic characteristics wer e related to their responses. The results indicated (a) that teachers found most of the consultant characteristics and behaviors that were r ated to lie between important and extremely important on the scale's f ive-point rating scale; (b) that two factors (Consultant Knowledge, Pr ocess, and Application Skills; Consultant Interpersonal and Problem-So lving Skills) emerged from a factor analysis of the teachers' scale re sponses; (c) that these two factors compared favorably with previous r esearch; and (d) that teachers' gender, age, highest degree earned, an d years of teaching experience had significant impact on some of the s cale responses. Limitations of the study and directions for future res earch also were addressed.