Confusion regarding School Counselor Functions: School Leadership Impacts Role Clarity

Significant changes are emerging which will notably impact the implementation and scope of both school administration and school counseling practices. The New York State Education Department, among others, is revising the requirements for administrative certification parallel to a robust reform movement on national standards for school performance and demonstrable school effectiveness. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) is concurrently working to update the role functions for the nations' school counselors. This article argues that these distinct goals are in concordance, and that the promotion of clarity in the appropriate role of the counselor can be pro-actively adopted towards increased efficiency in utilizing resources, thereby enhancing reform objectives. The article presents a synthesis of the counseling and administration literature demonstrating significant confusion regarding the appropriate roles for counselors and the resulting inefficiency and misuse of this viable resource. The article suggests that it is incumbent upon educators to familiarize themselves with the forthcoming counselor role statement as an initial step towards increasing school effectiveness.