70 The Coaching Toolkit for Child Welfare Practice
Constructing the scale
The coaching conversation to create the GARS can take some time,
depending upon how many goals are discussed and how detailed
the learner is in describing the goals. The scale is developed using
two stages (Kloseck, 2007; HCN, 2009).
Stage One: Using SMART criteria, write the scale in terms of the
behavior or skill that is targeted. Anchors such as “use motivational
interviewing skills in 75% of cases” are not specific enough, because
it is not clear what motivational interviewing skills are being looked
for. This type of scale anchor would be hard to rate and might not be
rated consistently. Quantify the change so that progress can clearly
be seen and tracked. Think in terms of “how much,” “how often,” or
“how long.” Focus on only one behavior per scale. Double-barreled
descriptions lead to confusion about how to rate progress because
an individual might be doing one thing and not the other or doing
both but at different levels.
Example: “Use family team meetings and safe measures in five
cases each month.” The scale related to use of family team
meetings needs to focus on one separate single behavior. This
scale would be impossible to rate if the learner met the criterion
of five cases for use in family team meetings, but not for use of
safe measures.
Stage Two: Describe levels that are better or worse than expected.
With the learner, think about what would be “somewhat better than
expected” and “much better than expected,” and develop specific