The School Practitioner's Concise Companion to Preventing Dropout and Attendance Problems

The School Practitioner's Concise Companions give busy social workers, psychologists, and counselors a quick guide to accessible, proven solutions for their students most common problems. Built around the expert advice from the acclaimed School Services Sourcebook, each volume is a rapid reference to a key school issue.

Here, readers will find an overview of the factors that put students at risk for missing school and dropping out. This Concise Companion presents innovative, effective strategies to improve school attendance and engage underserved student populations such as those who are pregnant or in foster care.

Each chapter is filled with charts, checklists, and cases and is conveniently organized around What We Know, What We Can Do, Tools and Practice Examples, and Key Points to Remember. A portable catalog of best practices, it brings evidence-based practice within easy reach of school professionals.

Cynthia Franklin is Professor and Stiernbert/Spencer Family Professor in Mental Health at The University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work, where she is Coordinator of the clinical concentration. Dr. Franklin is an internationally known leader in school social work and school mental health practice and has published widely on topics such as dropout prevention, clinical assessment, the effectiveness of solution-focused therapy in school settings, and adolescent pregnancy prevention. Mary Beth Harris is both a social work educator and an experienced social work clinician. She began her social work career working with adolescent girls in group homes and at an alternative school for pregnant and parenting students. Subsequently, she was a family therapist and clinical program director on the U.S.-Mexico border for over 20 years before entering social work education.