This study is the first systematic examination of how school counselor multicultural counseling competence (MCC) is addressed in state licensure examinations of school counselors. Results offer preliminary support to the notion that state licensure examinations indeed address some important aspects of MCC, as identified by Holcomb-McCoy (2004).…

The purpose of this study was to contribute to the fields of school leadership and school comprehensive guidance and counseling programs. The study examined future administrators' awareness and knowledge of the Missouri Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Program before and after receiving instruction on the program. Included in the instruction…

The six statewide research studies presented in this special issue use a variety of designs, instrumentation, and measures. Nevertheless, they can be integrated at the level of results to shed light on some important questions related to effective practice in the field of school counseling. In fact, one can argue that, when separate studies that…

Analyses of 103 St. Louis metro area school counselors' using the National School Violence Survey (Astor et al., 1997; Astor et al., 2000; Furlong et al., 1996) suggests school counselors' perceptions of school violence and their preparedness to respond to said violence vary by both community setting and years of experience. Discussion frames the…

The requirements for school counselor certification have changed since 2000 in Missouri. Most notably, the requirement of previous teaching experience has been removed. As a result, individuals from backgrounds other than teaching have the opportunity to earn their masters' degrees in school counseling and earn the student services certificate of…

The shortage of qualified school counselors in the past few years has been a concern of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Efforts to address this issue were largely contingent on encouraging students to enter counselor-training programs. Recent research pointed to the fact that a large number of counselors were…