Professional School Counseling: Zeitgeist and Lodestar

Zeitgeist and lodestar--the phrase sounds like a bad Vegas act involving snakes or maybe a grunge tribute band (my apologies to anyone in Las Vegas or Seattle that I may have now offended). Zeitgeist is a term of German origin that means the defining mood, spirit, or intellectual and cultural climate of the era. Lodestar is an old English word that refers to a compass or guiding star, something that lights the direction of needed travel. The concepts of zeitgeist and lodestar capture the role of Professional School Counseling (PSC). Scholarly, peer-reviewed, empirical journals directed toward a specific profession fulfill a unique purpose. Unlike journals that generate knowledge for an esoteric group of researchers, journals for a profession must address the current concerns of the discipline, and, at the same time, advance the breadth and depth of profession's knowledge base beyond the current state of awareness. Like the profession of school counseling itself, PSC should reflect the current energy, angst, and general spirit of our culture (zeitgeist!). The articles in PSC should provide the intellectual climate for dialogue about the most salient concerns of the journal's constituency--those challenges facing the school counseling profession in our time. Moreover, PSC should be the lodestar for the profession--guiding the field not only by providing exemplary evidence-based best practice (Featured Research and Practitioner-Focused Chris Wood, PhD, NCSC, is editor of Professional School Counseling. He is graduate program director of distance learning and an associate professor at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Va. E-mail wood@odu.edu. Research sections), but also by introducing new knowledge and innovation (Conceptual section). Professional school counselors can not only address the unique demands of their students/ schools today, but also anticipate or be prepared to address the challenges of tomorrow. Our journal gives us many reasons to be proud. It is highly respected and highly selective, accepting only about 10% of submissions to publish manuscripts of the highest caliber. While being highly selective, PSC still publishes more articles and subsequently cites more research than any other counseling division journal (Fernando & Barrio Minton, 2011). Still, in an effort to he more in keeping with the zeitgeist and serve as lodestar for the profession, I am proud to say the journal is in the process of making several improvements. PSC has added a new section dedicated to practitioner-focused, action research conducted by practicing school counselors. This important endeavor will be led by one of the new associate editors, Dr. Carol Kaffenberger, who will focus solely on assisting practicing school counselors in revising manuscripts to be ready for publication. Dr. Kaffenberger has graciously written the associate editor's note describing this new section of the journal. PSC also is increasing the number of members on the PSC editorial board and adding a team of associate editors. The expansion of the editorial board is intended to decrease the burden on current reviewers. PSC is specifically adding more practicing professional school counselors to the editorial board to enhance an already strong group of reviewers (many of whom are practitioners or former practitioners) and continue the focus on publishing articles that are relevant, meaningful, and hold substantive application for the school counseling profession. PSC has added three associate editors: Drs. Tim Grothaus, Carol Kaffenberger, and Mike Nakkula. Each of these respected professionals brings empathy from school counseling experience, a deep understanding of the importance of the profession, and a knowledge base that is complementary to the other editors. The journal hopes to add more associate editors within the next year to help the journal maintain, on average, a 45-60 day turnaround time on initial manuscript submissions. …