School counselors have been professionals in schools for over one hundred years. During the past century, as the nation has grown and changed, the roles and responsibilities of school counselors have as well. As the initial roles of school counselors have progressed to include more than vocational counseling, their roles and responsibilities have transformed as well to meet the needs of students. Changes, combined with several other factors, caused most states to alter the traditional certification requirement for professional school counselors. Illinois was the 42nd state to do so in July 2004. Today, three different educational backgrounds are acceptable for certification upon completion of an approved master's degree: teacher-trained, non-teacher trained with no experience, and non-teacher trained with a clinical master's degree in a related field with experience. The changes in certification are relatively new; therefore teacher versus non-teacher-trained has a small literature base. This inquiry explored similarities and differences of three educational backgrounds. A multiple-case study approach was utilized with a modified 360-degree feedback process and a modified Consensual Qualitative Research method that explored word family patterns in the cross-case analysis. The analysis revealed seven key findings of new professional school counselors: (a) professional school counselors' development of relationships with stakeholders were key to working successfully with a variety of people in the school system, (b) the identity of the professional school counselors was based on the stakeholders' perceptions of roles and responsibilities conducted by the professional school counselors, (c) the active role of the professional school counselors was viewed as effectiveness, (d) professional school counselors became catalysts for change school-wide, (e) teaching experience is not necessary to be effective, (f) the acculturation strategies of new professional school counselors are based on experiences from their background, and (g) training needs to address more student issues and the implementation of standards and models. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]