Peer counseling cannot take the place of a valid guidance program within a school. It can, however, augment an ongoing guidance effort by providing appropriate experiences for students and thus freeing trained guidance personnel for more specialized work. (Author)

A Wisconsin study reveals that most school counselors are evaluated at least annually but that inappropriate evaluation criteria are applied. Recommendations include developing a clear policy, establishing a task force (composed of administrators, counselors, and others) to review existing criteria and procedures, and implementing any new plan on…

Describes a successful Minnesota program, developed to improve counselors' performance, that was adapted from a similar teacher program. Administrators and counselors share performance criteria to focus on significant counseling behaviors. Includes a list of performance evaluation criteria. (MD)

Does the counselor with teaching experience perform more satisfactorily than the counselor without such a background? To learn more about this issue, the authors conducted a study to determine whether principals rated counselors with and without the experience any differently. (Editor)

Counseling is an important program in secondary schools and should not be limited to scheduling and credit counting. A balanced program ensures services including coordination, counseling, and consultation. Included is a "Balanced Program Guide." (MD)

Over the years, school counseling has transcended its traditional vocational guidance function. Various trends and themes in school counseling are explored, including information access and use, prevention versus remediation issues, environmental engineering challenges, professional adaptability and change, and creation of school support systems…

Too often school counselors are evaluated through a teacher-assessment process bearing little relevance to (poorly defined) counseling tasks or roles. Evaluation is hindered by lack of a developmental model and by administrative pressures to perform tasks outside counselors' training and experience. Improvement measures are outlined. (Contains 16…