The study was designed to explore the actual performance of secondary school counselors' perception of their role framed within the California State School Counseling Standards. A qualitative phenomenological narrative inquiry was conducted with counselors, detailing their experience as educators. In person interviews were conducted with eight participants from three school districts located in Los Angeles County. Once collected, the data were coded for the identification of common themes which, emerged from the participant responses. Results from the study demonstrated how counselors advocate for their students, despite managing large caseloads and handling non-counseling duties. In order to advocate for the contributions made to a student's academic success, further research is needed to examine the effectiveness of school counselors and the impact of lower student to counselor ratios. [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://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]