Professional Perceptions Of The School Counselor: From The Past To The Present

According to the National Center on Educational Outcomes (1998), Americans demand more from schools and expect more from students than ever before. Upon entering this century, our nation pledged to increase access to education for all children. As we continue to push forward, American education should rise toward a new challenge - helping all children in every school increase their expectations and achievement in the academic arena (No Child Left Behind, 2001).States and school districts across the nation are carrying out reforms to recognize and overcome this challenge. Strategies to increase student achievement include setting high content and student performance standards; aligning teacher development with curriculum and instruction; and creating state and local assessments (Datnow, Hubbard, & Mehan, 2002). A key and constant piece in the ever changing puzzle of public education is the school counselor (Bemak, 2000). Throughout the history of American public education, the school counselor was an important stakeholder that provided a service of support for whoever was in need (Burnham & Jackson 2000). Today, the educational landscape has added another dimension to the puzzle and counselors are trying to find where they fit into the picture. The problem that this research will investigate is to what extent policies, indigenous to the age of accountability, have informed professional perceptions about secondary school counseling