Sharing and Inspiring

Abstract

When you work in education, August is the start of a new year. It is a time not only to reflect on past accomplishments and failures but also to set goals. It is a little bit of a challenge for me to be writing this in mid-April, because I'm not quite in that mindset yet. Even so, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on my involvement over the past few years with Professional School Counseling, and I want to take this opportunity to share with you my goals for the journal. I must start by saying that I am excited to be coming on board as the Professional School Counseling editor. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but laugh when, on April Fool's Day, the previous editor, Rick Auger, Ph.D., sent me an e-mail in which he reminded me that was my first official day on the job. It took me a minute to remember he wasn't joking. I have spent the past couple of years as associate editor, working closely with Rick, and I want to express how much I value having worked with him. The collaborative manner in which he approached his role as editor has allowed me to slowly transition into that role. I also want to welcome Chris Sink, Ph.D., Seattle Pacific University, on board as the new associate editor. If you're not aware, Chris is a former editor of Professional School Counseling, and he brings a wealth of other editorial experience with him. Kathleen Rakestraw continues to serve as the person who manages everything and keeps us moving; we would be lost without her. As I was reviewing back issues of Professional School Counseling, I realized that my goals are not really that different from those of recent editors. In December 2006, Rick wrote that he wanted to make the journal relevant to practicing school counselors, include voices from people outside of school counseling, present empirical data, and publish high-quality articles. I must say that I still agree with all of those things. In particular, any of you who have submitted manuscripts over the past few years probably know that Rick and I have tried to encourage authors to collect data to support their ideas. Accountability and evidence-based practice are two important concepts for school counselors, and I believe that our professional journal should help school counselors understand how to demonstrate their effectiveness and also provide them with evidence-based interventions they can implement in their schools. To be more specific, I would like to see Professional School Counseling (a) be informative to practitioners, counselor educators, and graduate students; (b) address topics that are timely; and (c) focus on evidence-based and/or theory-based ideas and interventions. We rely on the editorial board to help ensure these goals are met. An efficient review process, managed by Kathleen, ensures that we are able to publish articles before the information becomes dated. The editorial board also provides feedback regarding the perceived relevance of the manuscripts for the journal. …