Given their tremendous professional responsibilities, professional counselors face daunting challenges to remaining healthy and avoiding role stress and overload. This article explores the intersection of race, gender, wellness, and spirituality in the self-care of African American women counselors. The authors give particular attention to…

Transition to a new school for adolescent students can be challenging. Students who have difficulty navigating the transition to ninth grade are at an increased disadvantage academically and personally. Even students who approach the move with excitement often have unrealistic expectations of what is necessary for success. Overall, those who do…

This paper is a description of an action research (AR) study done with chronically absent elementary school students. The AR sought to answer these questions: 1) do reinforcement and daily check-ins increase attendance and 2) why are some students absent? Related literature regarding attendance and the methods used for the study are described and…

This paper operationalizes the definition of action research (AR) and the importance of conducting such studies to improve the lives of students and professionals. This paper provides an overview of literature regarding variables related to truancy and absenteeism. The paper discusses the importance of students being present and engaged, negative…

Professional school counselors must clearly establish and articulate the purpose and goals of their school counseling program and its relationship to student achievement in order to become integral participants in the school reform movement. By aligning Georgia's Performance Standards and the ASCA National Standards, counselors can realize…

This paper describes an action research project evaluating an elementary school counseling program in a large suburban Georgia city. Using staff surveys (which include homeroom teachers as well as support teachers and paraprofessionals), interviews, and researcher observations the program was evaluated to determine strengths and weaknesses. The…

School counselors in their first year of practice within the profession or within a new school district can experience challenges in assuming the professional responsibilities associated with their role. Mentoring programs are one form of professional assistance that has been recommended in the literature for new educators, including school…

Two Muslim women who hold Ph.D.'s, a clinical and developmental psychologist and a teacher educator speak personally and professionally about important information school counselors need to know about Islam and providing services to Muslim children. First, the authors draw from personal experiences in parenting Muslim children who have come of age…

The action research study revealed the effectiveness of recent interventions to the attendance process of a single elementary school located in the Southern United States. The study evaluated the benefits and impact of the interventions, and other possible interventions to increase student attendance. An explanation of each intervention is…

The results of a study that examined the peer tutoring program at a middle school are discussed in this article. In an effort to determine ways to improve the peer tutoring program an action research (AR) mixed design study was developed. AR is practitioner based research. Its purpose is to examine the work of practitioners for effectiveness and…

In this era of results based education, professional school counselors must discover the most efficient methods for reaching all children in their school, yet still allow time for individual student care. This quantitative research study describes the utilization of a school's closed-circuit television to present a classroom guidance unit on…

Utilizing a single-group interrupted time series design (Creswell, 2003), this pilot study examined the relationship between academic achievement, school bonding, and the extracurricular activity participation of "uninvolved" students (n=11) who participated in a voluntary support group at a suburban high school in the southeast. Results indicated…

This paper discusses how school counselors can support students suffering from anxiety. The causes and prevalence of anxiety are presented as well as the differences between normal and problematic anxiety. The role of school personnel in early identification is discussed with particular emphasis on the responsibilities of the school counselor.…

This article presents the readers with the historical perspective of the "GSCA Journal" from its initiation to the present. Additionally, the article reports on many of the achievements of each editor and is meant to celebrate their work. Their efforts created a publication that is highly professional.

Writing for publication is a great privilege and one that should be approached deliberately as well as innovatively. As experts in our respective fields, writing for publication is an opportunity to share original thoughts, take positions, and/or report findings as well as simultaneously advance foundational knowledge in our areas. The power and…