Supporting a Nation of Learners: The Role of School Counseling in Educational Reform

The most recent school reform agenda directed the development of national standards across the academic content areas to improve educational practice and pedagogy. U.S. Department of Education's (1994) Goals 2000: The Educate America Act and its subsequent nationwide implementation largely ignored the involvement of school counseling in school reform efforts. Counselors in schools face the challenge of preparing students to meet the expectations of these higher academic standards and to become well‐educated and contributing members of an ever changing and complex society. The development of the National Standards for School Counseling Programs (American School Counselor Association, 2003) positioned school counseling to play an increasingly important role in contemporary school improvement and in support of the recent educational legislative agenda the No Child Left Behind Act (U.S. Department of Education, 2001).