A Season of Excitement and Change

Fall in elementary, middle, and high schools has always struck me as a season of excitement and optimism, tempered by a dose of anxiety and trepidation. In fact, my 7-year-old twin sons began second grade this fall with just that sense of nervous eagerness. Little did they know how much I could identify with both their excitement and their nervousness as I moved into the position of editor of Professional School Counseling. The position of editor is one of rich rewards. The editor gets first look at the scholarly work being produced by researchers and practitioners, and is able to read about a variety of exciting interventions and programs being delivered by school counselors. There is also an opportunity to work with a group of dedicated and highly talented professionals who, together, do the work that creates the journal you are now reading. This group includes Amy Milsom, the associate editor of Professional School Counseling (PSC), who provides invaluable assistance with both manuscript reviews and the development of CEU questions for published articles. The group also includes Kathleen Rakestraw, the managing editor of PSC, who provides invaluable assistance with, well, everything. Also instrumental in the success of PSC are the members of the Editorial Board, who provide the initial reviews of the submitted manuscripts. Finally, assuming the editorship of PSC has come with the bonus of working with Rich Lapan, the previous editor of PSC. Rich not only has provided exceptional leadership and vision for this journal, he also has been a generous and supportive mentor. The school counseling profession is indebted to Rich for his contribution to PSC and for the work he continues to do in furthering the research base for the profession, and I am indebted to him for his unwavering support and assistance. It is customary for incoming editors to outline their vision for the journal in opening notes such as this one. I would like to follow in this tradition by taking some time to share my thoughts about the preferred direction of PSC. Simply put, I believe Professional School Counseling, as the flagship journal of the sole national organization devoted to school counselors, should promote the interests and needs of the profession of school counseling. While few would disagree with this broad statement, it does not provide a detailed understanding of how PSC should change--or stay the same. In order to provide more of this detail, I would like to outline a set of more specific statements that more fully describe what I mean when I say that PSC should promote the interests and needs of the profession. Every issue of PSC should include articles that are directly relevant to practicing school counselors. School counselors at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels should be able to peruse the table of contents of every issue and find themselves drawn to articles that can provide the type of highly relevant and applied knowledge that can help them do their jobs better. School counselors should be able to read about new, effective programs and interventions; learn whether programs and approaches they have been using are validated by research; and read articles that help them better understand the needs and issues of students and families. PSC should be the preferred source for school counselors who strive to be reflective, informed, cutting-edge practitioners. PSC should include articles authored by professionals in a wide range of positions relevant to school counseling. This may be another way of saying that authorship in PSC is not strictly the province of university faculty. This is not to minimize the essential contribution of university faculty, who collectively bring a wealth of knowledge about critical issues facing school counseling and the research skills to provide the type of empirical data necessary to make sense of the issues. …