This paper traces the historical development of school counseling from its origins in the vocational guidance movement of the late 19th century through the early 2000s. Beginning with pioneers like Frank Parsons and Jesse B. Davis during the Industrial Revolution, the paper documents how social reform, World Wars, and federal legislation shaped the profession. Key milestones include the founding of the National Vocational Guidance Association (1913), the influence of Carl Rogers and psychometric testing, and pivotal acts such as the National Defense Education Act (1958) and Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965). The paper concludes by examining how the profession evolved into its modern form, culminating in the American School Counselor Association's National Standards and National Model, establishing school counseling as a comprehensive educational specialty serving academic, career, and personal development needs.
School counseling is an affiliate of a larger profession with a rich history spanning just over 124 years. This division of the counseling profession can date its roots back as early as 1889, with many key leaders spearheading this soon-to-be movement across the country. Although school counseling today can be found in various settings, the concept "has its roots in the vocational guidance movement of the Industrial Revolution during the late 19th and early 20th centuries" (Schmidt, 2008, p. 3). It was during this time period that the United States underwent many social and economic changes, shifting from an agrarian economy to an industrial market. Social reform movements revealed societal concerns in the areas of education, workforce development, child labor, and immigration. These social and economic conditions created a need for occupational support and a restructuring of the educational system.
Twenty-five years prior to World War I, "classroom teachers provided guidance to students for their social, personal, vocational, and in many cases, spiritual development" (Schmidt, 2008, p. 4). As the Industrial Revolution accelerated, the need for more skilled workers increased, prompting the country to turn to the educational system for answers. However, the original secondary school counseling model sent youth into the workforce both vocationally and psychologically unprepared to cope with the new industrial environment. As a class counselor in 1889, Jesse B. Davis, a social reformist, provided academic and vocational counseling to eleventh graders at Central High School in Detroit, Michigan. Within this position, Davis observed students' vocational and social requirements (Erford & Tang, 2010), and upon becoming the principal of Grand Rapids Central High School in 1907, he instituted the first guidance course to be taught through the English curriculum. The school-wide guidance lessons were a three-fold initiative that served as a preventive measure addressing students' acquisition of positive traits, their selection of appropriate behaviors, and their vocational interests (Schmidt, 2008).
Similarly, Frank Parsons, who was referred to as the "father of guidance," sought to introduce guidance counseling from a socially reformative platform. Parsons focused on youths' successful transition from school to their chosen career. Like Jesse Davis, he also introduced guidance in the classroom setting through the establishment of the Breadwinner's College in Boston, Massachusetts. Shortly thereafter, in 1908, Frank Parsons founded the Vocation Bureau of Boston to provide more individualized guidance while still serving students in a classroom setting. Parsons' growth and prevention model for guidance served as an instrument to help students choose a suitable career while simultaneously addressing broader societal needs. The establishment of the Vocation Bureau of Boston not only created "training programs to help young men become vocational counselors"; it also led to the development of the first counselor certification program in Boston (Erford & Tang, 2010, p. 9). Davis and Parsons paved the way for the guidance movement to spread throughout the United States. Their groundwork provided other notable vocational guidance leaders such as George Merrill, Anna Reed, Eli Weaver, and Frank Goodwin with a foundational vision, affording them the opportunity to oversee the start of guidance programs in San Francisco, California; Seattle, Washington; Brooklyn, New York; and Cincinnati, Ohio, respectively.
The momentum of the guidance movement flourished through the founding of the National Vocational Guidance Association in 1913, the publishing of the National Vocational Guidance Bulletin in 1921, and the overall progressive educational movement in the early 1920s. News of this guidance movement not only spread further throughout the world but also further united the counseling profession. As the country entered World War I, the vocational guidance model that sought to place appropriate people in suitable careers was repurposed to select the most desirable people to become potential draftees. Similar to the Parsons method of guidance, a scientific approach was sought to measure and match the best military candidates; thus, the Army Alpha and Army Beta intelligence tests were created. This testing movement laid the foundation for assessment practices that were "embraced by schools and the education profession when the war ended" (Schmidt, 2008, p. 5).
As the war began to close toward the end of 1918, the country experienced growth in the counseling industry that addressed students' concerns outside of the vocational realm. Unfortunately, the Great Depression of the 1930s slowed this momentum due to the lack of funding for education as a whole. Financial support for guidance and counseling services suffered during this devastating time in the country.
As the Great Depression neared its end, the profession received substantial funding through the George-Deans Act of 1936. The counseling industry was provided with financial resources that directly impacted vocational guidance counseling. This period led into the country's completion of World War II, in which counseling saw a significant shift in its strategies, mainly due to the influence of psychologist Carl Rogers. The Rogerian theoretical framework orchestrated a shift in the school counseling model from a problem-solving methodology to a personal growth approach designed to meet the needs of the growing student population (Schmidt, 2010).
Another shift in the guidance counseling approach can be attributed to the military's increased use of assessment and testing. The educational and private business sectors also began to take interest in testing and personnel selection. This growth in the counseling profession led to the passing of the George-Barden Act in 1946, which furnished additional financial support for school counseling and guidance. As the government gained more interest in vocational development and guidance, the Guidance and Personnel Services Section was created within the United States Office of Education in the 1950s.
The 1950s can be identified as the most influential and stimulating period for the counseling movement. It witnessed the formation of the American Personnel and Guidance Association (APGA) in 1952 as well as the chartering of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) in 1953. These two organizations helped organize all interested parties in guidance, counseling, and personnel matters (Gladding, 2013). Another world event also sparked growth within the counseling profession during this decade. When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the first space satellite, in 1957, the United States responded with the passing of the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) of 1958. This act was established to provide academic competitiveness in science and mathematics, contribute to the nation's safety, and support qualified students in attending college. Through this bill, NDEA Title V funds focused on creating training institutes to increase the number of counselors and strengthen current counselors in an effort to support the students the government was investing in to help safeguard the country.
The school counseling profession experienced further academic development in 1964 when the federal government expanded the NDEA into elementary schools, junior colleges, and technical schools. In addition to this expansion, the government passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 to help lower socioeconomic students advance educationally. During the 1960s and 1970s, school counseling began to take shape as a distinct part of a larger educational platform that initially served as the only program overseeing a student's social, academic, and vocational needs.
The NDEA and ESEA together directed the counseling focus toward greater academic emphasis in an effort to meet student needs. The introduction of new theories, the new academic direction of counseling, along with national movements such as the Civil Rights movement and the integration of public schools, encouraged the inclusion of services to all students in the public school system (Schmidt, 2008). As the 1970s concluded, they also brought an introduction to the special education movement. The legislative government showed support for this movement in 1975 by passing the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. Other notable legislative measures during this decade that impacted school counseling included the school counselor certification requirement for all states as well as the Career Education Incentive Act of 1978, which propelled the acquisition of career education programs in schools (Erford & Tang, 2010).
Similar to the 1970s legislative platforms, the 1980s introduced bills that assisted counselors in helping students meet the academic expectations of the nation. The Carl Perkins Vocational Education Act of 1984 continued to support career education program initiatives in schools (Erford & Tang, 2010). Due to the momentum of special education and career education, school counselors were shown to need training to acclimate themselves to this new educational environment. The needs of students were changing, and the roles of counselors were changing as well.
As the U.S. educational system faced scrutiny in the 1990s through the publication of A Nation at Risk and educational reform efforts, the ASCA provided resources to establish and publish the National Standards for School Counseling Programs across the nation in 1997 (Guthrie, 2003). This program provided the structure for counselors to develop and operate programs serving all students in academic, career, and personal development areas (Erford & Tang, 2010). The ASCA later published The ASCA National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs in 2003. These documents provided the milestone necessary to create the first of many advocacy-related initiatives within the counseling profession. School counselors were finally able to communicate to those outside the profession what their job duties entailed. These publications also helped create viable training programs for future school counselors while ultimately providing comprehensive academic, career-focused, and personal assistance to their greatest benefactors: the students.
School counseling as we regard it today developed from a vocational guidance framework and has allowed the impact of social reform, legislative programs, theoretical frameworks, and national publications to contribute to its present-day operation and philosophical viewpoint. This specialty within the larger counseling profession has a rich and abundant history full of notable people and events that have shaped it into a central role in every level of education. With many organizations and government entities financially and philosophically supporting this profession, it can look forward to many more years of progress and growth throughout the world.
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