Attendance USA Training Hub · Attendance Science™ Certificate Course
Refusal & Avoidance MTSS School Attendance Problems
Evidence-Based Strategies for K-12 Leaders and Attendance Professionals
Students who avoid or refuse school present some of the most complex and misunderstood challenges in attendance practice. This course equips attendance professionals, school leaders, and intervention specialists with evidence-based frameworks, validated instruments, and actionable protocols for identifying, assessing, and responding to school avoidance and refusal — a research-grounded practice toolkit, taught by the founder of Attendance Science™.
- All four units: Foundations, Assessment, Evidence, Response
- Unit Assessments (80% to pass)
- Participant Workbook, Evidence Brief and Instrument Reference Guide
- Certificate of completion from Attendance USA
Getting Started
Enroll
Click Take this Course on this page and pay securely by card. You’ll create a free account (or log in) so your progress and certificate are tracked.
Move through each unit screen by screen
Each unit opens in a guided player: read a screen, click Next, and answer the in-unit Knowledge Check questions to keep going. No skipping ahead — your place is saved automatically. Three case labs let you apply each unit to a real case from your own caseload.
Pass each unit’s Assessment
At the end of every unit a graded Assessment unlocks. Score 80% or higher to open the next unit — retakes are allowed.
Earn your certificate
Complete all four units and pass every Assessment to earn your certificate, provided to you by Attendance USA.
The Four Units
Foundations — What absence is telling us
Attendance is the tally, absenteeism is the reasons. The four-category classification (truancy, withdrawal, avoidance, refusal), the Tiered Attendance Threshold Model, and screening the system before classifying the student.
Assessment — Measuring what drives absence
Six instruments and the three questions they answer: the SNACK, SRAS-R and Kearney’s four functions, ISAP and ISAP-P, SCREEN, PSSB© and the Family Stability Index™. The three-source check and the ASC-AR code. Case Lab A.
Evidence — What works, and what does not
The controlled trials and meta-analysis, four studies every practitioner should know, the five mechanisms that recur across effective programs, and the honest boundary of the evidence. Case Lab B.
Response — Building and coordinating the plan
The Four Commitments, SALT, function-informed intervention selection, the Tier 3 Decision Pathway, naming an owner for every piece, and step-down. Case Lab C, course takeaways and your action plan.
Your Practice Toolkit
Three companion documents are included with enrollment and linked throughout the units.
Participant Workbook
Worksheets 1.1 to 4.4 and your course action plan, applied to one real case you carry through all four units.
Open the Workbook (PDF) →Available after enrollment
Evidence Brief
The full evidence base for the course, with the complete source table.
Open the Evidence Brief (PDF) →Available after enrollment
Instrument Reference Guide
SNACK, SRAS-R, ISAP and ISAP-P, SCREEN, PSSB© and FSI™ in detail, with the crosswalk and permissions guidance.
Open the Instrument Guide (PDF) →Available after enrollment
Dr. Carolyn Gentle-Genitty
Dr. Carolyn Gentle-Genitty
Founder & CEO, Attendance USA™ · Pioneer and Developer of Attendance Science™
Dr. Gentle-Genitty founded Attendance USA and the field of Attendance Science™, the evidence-based study of why students attend school and how to improve it. She is the developer of the APA-catalogued PSSB© instrument, co-author of the four-type framework and the SNACK (Heyne, Gren-Landell, Melvin & Gentle-Genitty, 2019), and author of Schools Spared, Children Punished.
Who this course is for: attendance professionals, school leaders, intervention specialists, counselors, social workers, school psychologists, nurses, clinicians and licensed providers, and community or family-serving partners working with students who avoid or refuse school.
Please note: this is a school-based training and reference program, not a clinical or medical diagnostic manual. Any indication of self-harm or safety risk requires immediate action under your organization’s crisis protocol and same-day involvement of a licensed mental health professional.
Questions or group enrollment? Email info@attendanceusa.org or use the AUSA Course Support Form.