Guidance and School Counseling

Brief History

Approximately 100 years ago, in response to the Industrial Revolution, American families from farming communities began migrating to larger cities in search of work. At the same time, a wave of immigration, also seeking employment, swelled the ranks of the urban working poor. These developments led to the 1916 child labor laws, mandatory school attendance laws, and the first publicly supported schools for students from all socioeconomic levels. School personnel in public schools began to provide students with information on occupational choices, which created the school guidance movement. Early pioneers, such as Jesse B. Davis and Frank Parsons, pushed the school guidance movement forward, leading to the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917, which provided funding for public school vocational education.

The field of school guidance underwent many transitions over the following decades. In the 1930s, the profession was strongly aligned with the trait-factor career theory. Guidance counselors used tests based on this theory to match a person's personal traits with job factors, such as skills and education. In the 1940s, the school guidance profession adopted Carl Rogers's person-centered theory that focused on individual counseling using nondirective approaches and unconditional positive regard for students. In 1958, the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) provided funding to hire school counselors in every high school. The NDEA was created in response to the Soviet Union's 1957 launching of Sputnik, the first space satellite. High school counselors were expected to identify gifted science and math students, and then help direct them toward college in an attempt to make the United States scientifically and technologically superior to other countries.

One of the most important steps for the field of school counseling took place in 1958 with the formation of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), a national professional organization that represents school counselors and helps them to be effective and efficient in their work. One of ASCA's first steps was to identify school counseling as a separate profession, with goals separate from teaching. ASCA has continued to advance the field of school counseling further forward each year.

“21st-Century”? School Counselors

A variety of labels have been used over the years to describe school counselors and school counseling programs, including “vocational counselor,” “guidance counselor,” and “guidance and counseling.” In 1990, ASCA's governing board unanimously determined that the profession should be referred to only as “school counseling”; therefore, although still frequently used, the previous terms are no longer appropriate. Further, ASCA (1999) outlined the school counselor's role: