The purpose of this digest is to describe school counselors' roles in the area of assessment through an historical review of testing in counseling, and to report on study findings regarding roles employers require school counselors to perform. Knowledge needed by counselors to obtain evidence, evaluate its usefulness, and interpret its meaning have long been and continue to be debated. in the 1960s tests were viewed positively, but by the 1970s it was felt that "the marriage between tests and counseling had failed." The negative consequences of "labeling" were emphasized. However, assessment has remained commonplace in schools and, particularly in vocational guidance, used principally as a guide for professionals to seek additional information for decision making. The job role expectations of counselors can be divided into six areas: (1) counseling (individual and group); (2) pupil assessment; (3) consultation; (4) acting as information officer; (5) acting as school program facilitator; and (6) research and evaluation. Each of these have assessment-intensive aspects such as test interpretation, test development, evaluation of programs, consulting, and research. Thus, the assessment skills counselors need include: doing pupil assessment, doing program evaluation, and using basic research. Contains eight references. (JBJ)