ABSTRACT

E ACH ONE OF US HAS THE RIGHT and responsibil-ity to assess the roads that lie ahead and those roads of which we have traveled. And if the future road looms ominous and unpromising and the roads back uninviting, then we need to gather our resolve and carrying only the necessary baggage, step off that road to a new direction . (Angelou, 1993)

The mission for schools in the 21 st century focuses squarely on effective teaching and learning. Standards-based education reform, with a relentless call for accountability and increased academic achievement for all students, comes at a time of booming technological advances and rapidly changing diversity in the composition of U.S . schools. The convergence of these forces, coupled with a critical look at school counseling at the close of the 20th century, provided a perfect opportunity for re-thinking, re-framing, and transforming the role of school counseling in American schools.