School principals and school counselors have the ability to forge a unique collaborative relationship to improve student achievement. Historically, school counselors have altered the primary focus of their work as deemed by the perspective of their principals.With an emphasis on improving student success in school, this study revealed the differences in counselor-principal priorities and perceptions and suggests the importance of counselor and principal collaboration to support this common goal.

Expectations run high that accountability for student outcomes will continue to drive the education agenda with reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965). School counselors have also recognized the imperative to connect their work to school improvement goals. This article discusses action research undertaken by school counselors who used data‐informed practice to align counseling programs with the accountability expectations of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (2002) and the American School Counselor Association (2003, 2005) National Model.

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This study explored the practices of professional school counselors in their delivery of career counseling. School counselors were found to spend significantly less time on career development than on personal–social and academic development. In addition, new professionals placed more priority on career counseling compared with their more experienced counterparts. Continuing education opportunities, future research directions, and implications for school counselors are presented.

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).

The New York State Education Department recently passed legislation that requires school districts to implement a programmatic, data-driven approach to school counseling. This change moves the state toward comprehensive school counseling and away from traditional “guidance”; however, these policy changes often do not translate into practice for some time, if ever. This exploratory study includes survey data from district administrators, school building leaders, and supervisors of school counselors pertaining to their perceptions of the roles and expectations for practicing school counselors. There were significant differences between groups in the expectations and perceptions of the frequency of specific activities performed by these professionals, demonstrating a lack of agreement on important areas of the new regulations. These data have implications for the translation of policy changes into practice and shed light on gaps among key stakeholders that have limited the role of school counselors for decades. Implications for administrators and practicing counselors, especially with regard to communicating and understanding the benefits to students of comprehensive, data-driven practice, are included.

Presently, many state departments of education and school counselor associations have published second-generation documents aligned with the ASCA National Model® (American School Counselor Association, 2005). This research study analyzed some school counselors’ readiness to deliver comprehensive programs by assessing their attitudes, beliefs, and priorities for key program elements affirmed in the ASCA National Model. The results identified gaps in the school counselors’ ability to embrace and implement the new vision of comprehensive school counseling during the initial stages of implementation and thus informed professional development needs.

The purpose of the study was to examine 1466 school principals’ opinions on six different aspects of counseling practices in K-12 public and private schools. Results indicated that there were significant differences between public and private school principals’ opinions on school counseling priorities, perceptions, academic development, and program management. School type and school-level interactions were significant for career and academic development and marginally significant for personal–social development. School level had also significant main effects on personal–social, career, and academic developments. These results may be of value to school leaders and educators concerned with improving student achievement and school effectiveness through revising and improving their school counseling services.