This paper argues for a closer connection between departments of counseling psychology and schools of education, based on the contention that all educators must understand the nature of behavior, the vulnerabilities of students during development, the sources of environmental influences contributing to behavioral effect on school performance, and the importance of timely interventions. Counseling psychology is therefore presented as fundamental to the mission of preparing education professionals to create healthy learning environments. To illustrate the significance of counseling psychology to educational reform, the author briefly describes his experiences designing a new graduate program at the University of Kansas in instructional leadership. This description discloses that many of the most important behavioral themes in instructional leadership relate directly to counseling psychology, suggesting that counseling psychology departments can exert positive influences on training programs for teacher and administrators. (TE)