266 Counselor Education & Supervision • June 2010 • Volume 49 © 2010 by the American Counseling Association. All rights reserved. Using National Education Longitudinal Data Sets in School Counseling Research Julia A. Bryan, Norma L. Day-Vines, Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy, & Cheryl Moore-Thomas National longitudinal databases hold much promise for school counseling researchers. Several of the more frequently used data sets, possible professional implications, and strategies for acquiring training in the use of large-scale national data sets are described. A 6-step process for conducting research with the data sets is ex- plicated: determining research questions, accessing the data set, understanding the study’s sample design, determining an analytic sample, considering pertinent data analysis issues, and understand- ing the limitations of using the data sets. Suggestions for preparing school counseling researchers and potential themes for future research are outlined. Several researchers have documented that the school counseling profession lacks research demonstrating the effectiveness of K–12 school counseling programs and interventions (Sink, 2006; Whiston, 2002; Whiston & Sexton, 1998). School counselors’ seemingly limited response to the paucity of evidence that school counseling programs actually increase student achievement and success may further exacerbate this problem. In 1988, Loesch concluded that research has not been “valued, emphasized, or endorsed as an important role function for school counselors” (p. 170). This disturbing conclusion reached over 20 years ago seems to have had little to no effect on the production of research on school counseling effectiveness or practice. This may place the school counseling profession and the children it serves at risk as important yet unanswered questions related to the effectiveness and relevance of the school counseling profession remain. School counseling research that uses current national longi- tudinal databases provides one opportunity to rectify the lack of rigorous research that puts the school counseling profession at risk (Whiston, 2002). National longitudinal data sets function as an important source of information about schools, students, and families because studies that draw on national databases have strong external validity and statistical power (Perna, 2007). High response rates (e.g., 94% for the National Education Longitudinal Julia A. Bryan, Department of Counseling and Personnel Services, University of Maryland; Norma L. Day-Vines, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy, Department of Counseling and Human Services, Johns Hopkins University; Cheryl Moore-Thomas, Education Specialties, Loyola University Maryland. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Julia A. Bryan, Department of Counseling and Personnel Services, College of Education, University of Maryland, 3234A Benjamin Building, College Park, MD 20742 (e-mail: jabryan@umd.edu).