Developing Productive School Counselor–Principal Partnerships

Abstract

School counselors and principals are in natural leadership positions that provide opportunities to influence systemic change. Given these educators’ great responsibility of supporting the academic, social/emotional, and college and career development of all students, aligning their efforts toward impacting student outcomes is wise. Current literature has identified barriers and benefits of school counselor–principal collaboration. However, a more thorough understanding of the process for developing and analyzing productive partnerships would prove beneficial to school counselors and principals. This article presents a framework for describing the process and outputs of school counselor–principal collaboration, with discussion of implications for further development and use of the framework.