Expert-led learning. Practical guidance. A shared response to school avoidance.

For schools & districts

One shared response to school avoidance: the School Avoidance Alliance MTSS Framework.

Help teachers, counselors, and school leaders understand barriers to attendance, work more constructively with families, and coordinate next steps with the Framework Curriculum, a Quick Start Implementation Guide, and dedicated resources for teachers and families.

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Not sure which plan fits?

What the Framework includes

  1. 1. The Framework Curriculum
  2. 2. Quick Start Implementation Guide
  3. 3. Teacher Awareness Pack
  4. 4. Parent Master Class

Family-informed guidance in every license.

Why a shared framework

Give the people supporting your students a clearer next step.

A student’s difficulty attending school can involve several staff members and the family. The Framework gives your team a common starting point for understanding barriers, discussing responsibilities and planning a coordinated response.

Understand the barriers

Explore school avoidance and the questions that can help your team better understand a student’s situation.

Strengthen school–home conversations

Bring family perspectives and practical communication guidance into the way your team works with families.

Coordinate next steps

Use the Framework and resources to support conversations about roles, responsibilities and implementation.

Who it brings together

  • Special education Directors
  • RTI team members
  • Special education teachers
  • Social Workers
  • School Nurses
  • General education teachers
  • School Psychologists
  • Attendance staff
  • School engagement staff
  • School Counselors
  • Principals
  • Student Assistance Counselors
  • Pupil Personnel Workers
  • Truancy officers
  • MTSS Staff

What you receive

Expert-led learning, and a clear plan for putting it into practice.

  1. The Framework Curriculum

    Expert-led lessons your team can return to as it puts the Framework into practice.

    What the curriculum covers
    • Understanding school avoidance and early signs
    • Learning from student and parent perspectives
    • Understanding the functions of school refusal
    • Exploring approaches discussed by specialists
    • Clarifying school and family roles
    • Considering educational supports and responsibilities
    • Planning a return to school
    • Reviewing school practices and prevention

  2. Quick Start Implementation Guide

    Step-by-step guidance to put the Framework into practice, fully aligned with the features and plans on this page.

  3. Teacher resources and family access

    Included with every license: the Teacher Awareness Pack and Parent Master Class access for families.

A parent and school professional talking together at a table

The family-informed difference

Understand school avoidance through students’ and families’ experiences.

The curriculum includes accounts from children who have experienced school avoidance and perspectives from their parents. These insights sit alongside professional guidance on school–home collaboration and planning a return to school, helping your team consider both the barriers to attendance and the support families need.

Family-informed learning is part of every license, and every license includes Parent Master Class access for families.

Pricing

Explore Framework Plans

All licenses are built on the Framework. For one school, choose by the type of building. For a district, choose by the number of school buildings. Prices are annual.

Single Building licenses

Identical inclusions in all three; choose by the type of school building.

Elementary Building

Give your elementary team one shared response to school avoidance.

Every adult at one elementary school works from the same approach, with resources for teachers and families.

$2,500per year

Scope

One elementary school · Unlimited staff

  • Unlimited staff access for the whole building
  • The Framework Curriculum
  • Quick Start Implementation Guide
  • Teacher Awareness Pack
  • Parent Master Class access for all families in the building

Recommended roles: All administrators, support staff and teachers.

Continue to checkout

Recommended for: Elementary schools.

Middle School Building

Bring every adult in your middle school into the same approach.

Every adult at one middle school works from the same approach, with resources for teachers and families.

$4,500per year

Scope

One middle school · Unlimited staff

  • Unlimited staff access for the whole building
  • The Framework Curriculum
  • Quick Start Implementation Guide
  • Teacher Awareness Pack
  • Parent Master Class access for all families in the building

Recommended roles: All administrators, support staff and teachers.

Pay now by card

Recommended for: Middle schools.

High School Building

Bring every adult in your high school into the same approach.

Every adult at one high school works from the same approach, with resources for teachers and families.

$5,500per year

Scope

One high school · Unlimited staff

  • Unlimited staff access for the whole building
  • The Framework Curriculum
  • Quick Start Implementation Guide
  • Teacher Awareness Pack
  • Parent Master Class access for all families in the building

Recommended roles: All administrators, support staff and teachers.

Pay now by card

Recommended for: High schools.

District-Wide licenses

Choose by the number of school buildings. Bulk discounted.

District, Up to 3 Buildings

Establish one shared approach across your schools.

Single Building access for every covered school, with usage and completion reporting from our team.

$9,500per year

Scope

Up to 3 school buildings

  • Everything in a Single Building license, at every covered school
  • Unlimited staff access district-wide
  • Parent Master Class access district-wide
  • Complete District Implementation Package
  • Usage and completion reporting
Pay now by card

District, Up to 6 Buildings

Connect more schools through a common approach.

Everything in District, Up to 3 Buildings, scaled to up to six school buildings.

$16,500per year

Scope

Up to 6 school buildings

  • Everything in a Single Building license, at every covered school
  • Unlimited staff access district-wide
  • Parent Master Class access district-wide
  • Complete District Implementation Package
  • Usage and completion reporting
Pay now by card
Best value

District, Up to 10 Buildings

Extend shared learning across your district rollout.

Everything in District, Up to 3 Buildings, scaled to up to ten school buildings.

$26,500per year

Scope

Up to 10 school buildings

  • Everything in a Single Building license, at every covered school
  • Unlimited staff access district-wide
  • Parent Master Class access district-wide
  • Complete District Implementation Package
  • Usage and completion reporting
Pay now by card

Enterprise, 11+ Buildings

Large urban districts

Customized district-wide infrastructure and dedicated support.

Custom quote

Procurement & purchasing

For the business office raising the requisition.

Can we buy on a purchase order?
Yes — most districts do. “Get a quote for a purchase order” on any license prepares the documents your business office needs. Access and scheduling follow an accepted purchase order under agreed terms; requesting a quote alone does not confirm either.
What price goes on the requisition?
The annual price listed on the license. “Share with an administrator” prepares a summary with the scope, inclusions and annual price your business office can attach to it.
What do you need to be set up as a vendor?
The license you want, the school or district it covers, and your accounts payable contact. We’ll confirm the vendor documentation your district requires before any invoice is issued.
When does our team get access?
After payment, or after an accepted purchase order under agreed terms, we coordinate staff access with your designated contact.

Purchasing process questions we haven’t answered here? .

Not sure which license fits?

Tell us how many staff or schools you want to involve. We’ll suggest the relevant license and a next step that fits your purchasing process.

No email required. You can also compare all licenses directly.

Talk through the right fit for your school or district.

Use a 20-minute overview call to discuss staff coverage, participating schools and implementation questions. Invite your administrator if that would help.

Plan finder

Find the right starting point for your team.

Answer a few questions about your coverage. We’ll suggest a license and the next step that fits your purchasing process.

No email required. You can also compare every license directly.

Expertise

Professional expertise. Family-informed perspective.

Meet the school avoidance specialists behind the Framework.

The only national organization focused exclusively on school avoidance.

Jayne Demsky

Jayne Demsky

Author & Founder, School Avoidance Alliance

Jayne is a national authority on chronic absenteeism and the author of Overcoming School Avoidance. After identifying critical gaps in school resources during a personal family struggle, she founded the Alliance in 2014 to build systemic, evidence-based solutions for districts and families.

Read full bio for Jayne Demsky

Jayne is a founding member of Attendance USA, delivering professional development frameworks for school leadership nationwide. Her flagship district platform and parent masterclasses serve as premier national resources. Her work has been featured in USA Today, The Washington Post, Education Week, and CBS News.

Dr. Anne Marie Albano

Dr. Anne Marie Albano

Professor of Medical Psychology in Psychiatry; Co-author of the SRAS-R

Dr. Albano is a Professor of Medical Psychology in Psychiatry and board-certified in clinical child and adolescent psychology. She is the founder and director of a leading clinic for anxiety and related disorders in New York City.

Read full bio for Dr. Anne Marie Albano

Dr. Albano has co-authored over 200 articles and chapters, conducts clinical research, supervises the research and clinical development of interns and postdoctoral fellows in psychology and psychiatry, and is involved in the advanced training of senior clinicians in CBT. One of her most well-known works is co-authoring "You and Your Anxious Child: Free Your Child from Fears and Worries and Create a Joyful Family Life" with Leslie Pepper.

She has been awarded the "Outstanding Contribution by an Individual for Clinical Activities" distinction by the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies.

Dr. Dina Nunziato

Dr. Dina Nunziato

Clinical Director – Anxiety & School Avoidance Treatment Program

Dr. Dina Nunziato is a clinical director of an anxiety treatment program in Greenwich, Connecticut, providing partial treatment programs and customizable outpatient services for children and adolescents with anxiety disorders and school avoidance.

Read full bio for Dr. Dina Nunziato

Dr. Nunziato has helped young adults in anxiety-related clinical and educational settings for twenty years. She specializes in Cognitive-behavioral treatment of anxiety and related disorders. Her research and publications include evidence-based mindfulness techniques to support anxiety management, academic success, and emotional well-being.

Most recently, Dr. Nunziato completed a doctoral dissertation entitled Embodied Learning Communities of Practice in Addressing College Student Anxiety.

Krystina Dawson

Krystina Dawson

School Psychologist & Founder – Center for One Consulting

Krystina Dawson, M.S.Ed., is a certified school psychologist and special education administrator in Greenwich, Connecticut. She is experienced and dedicated to leading teams and building plans to reintegrate kids with school avoidance back into school.

Read full bio for Krystina Dawson

She is an adjunct professor at Iona College, teaching graduate classes for mental health students and future school psychologists. Such as: "Consultation and Collaboration in Schools," "Social Psychology," "Psychological Aspects of Sexual Health," "Contemporary Issues in School Psychology," and "Exceptional Individuals."

Krystina is the founder of a private consulting agency, Center for One, which supports families and unique learners through the special education process.

A multidisciplinary school team meeting around a table

District results · First cohort

A K–12 district in New Jersey

Staff confidence, 5-point scale
2 → 5
Staff confidence, 5-point scale
Students back in the building
10+
Students back in the building
Protocols adopted district-wide
7 of 8
Protocols adopted district-wide
  • Secured an external university grant to fund a third year of coaching
  • Built check-in/check-out systems and mentoring for at-risk students
  • Embedded CBT- and DBT-informed strategies in reintegration planning

“Every attendance improvement we’ve seen is a direct result of this training.”

Director of Student Services

District-wide initiative

A public school district in Washington State

7 schools60 educator licensesDistrict-wide
  • Moved from legal letters and crisis firefighting to a unified, evidence-based response
  • Staff learned to recognize anxiety-driven absence instead of defiance — shifting from punitive enforcement to clinical partnership
  • Multiple students returned to regular attendance, including long-term school refusal cases
  • Reduced out-of-district placement referrals, avoiding $25K–$130K per student in placement costs

Breakthrough — 3-year re-entry case

One of three siblings who had exhausted every available option — a student who had not attended in-person school since 5th grade — now attends 4–5 days per week, supported by a modified attendance day paired with structured exposure therapy.

Now a repeat customer with an ongoing district-wide partnership.

These results reflect two districts’ reported experience working with School Avoidance Alliance’s school avoidance specialists; they are not an evaluation of the Framework. Outcomes vary by setting and implementation.

Trusted nationwide

Districts and schools working with our school avoidance specialists

Getting started

From choosing your scope to bringing your team together.

  1. Step 1: Choose your license

    Compare licenses or use the plan finder.

  2. Step 2: Purchase or get approval

    Check out at the listed annual price, or share the license with an administrator for approval.

  3. Step 3: Get your team started

    After payment or an accepted purchase order under agreed terms, we’ll coordinate staff access with your designated contact. The Quick Start Implementation Guide walks your team through the first steps.

Planning around a new term or a staff-development day? Talk through your rollout timing with us.

FAQs

Questions school teams ask

What does every license include?

Every license includes unlimited staff access, the Framework Curriculum, the Quick Start Implementation Guide, the Teacher Awareness Pack and Parent Master Class access for families. District licenses extend all of that to every covered school and add a Complete District Implementation Package with usage and completion reporting.

Which Single Building license should I choose?

Choose by the type of school: Elementary Building, Middle School Building or High School Building. All three cover unlimited staff in one building and include exactly the same resources — they are priced by the complexity of the building, not by what they contain.

How do District-Wide licenses work?

Choose by the number of school buildings: up to 3, up to 6 or up to 10. Every covered school receives everything in a Single Building license, plus district-wide Parent Master Class access, a Complete District Implementation Package and usage and completion reporting from our team. Districts with 11 or more schools can request an Enterprise quote.

Can this be paid for with grant or federal funding?

Yes. Many districts use Title I and Title II funds for this kind of professional development. Title IV, Part A is often overlooked for attendance work specifically, but it directly supports family engagement and school climate initiatives like this one. McKinney-Vento funds, typically associated with homeless student services, can also be applied for, since annual staff training is a required part of that program.

Is live training included?

Live workshops are not included in the standard licenses. They are available as optional add-ons; book a call to discuss them.

Where can I see the price?

Annual prices are listed on each license. You do not need to request a quote for a standard license; only Enterprise licenses are custom quoted.

What if I need purchasing approval?

Use ‘Share with an administrator’ to prepare a license summary and an editable forwarding email, including the annual price.

Do I need to take the survey or book a call to buy?

Both are optional for a standard license that fits your coverage. You can choose a license directly. If your rollout falls outside the listed licenses, we’ll help clarify the right next step.

Does the license include ongoing consulting?

Ongoing consulting is not included in the standard licenses. Ask about additional needs before purchasing.

How long does a license last?

Licenses are annual. Review the purchasing terms for your license before completing your order.

Can our organization use a purchase order?

Yes — most districts do. Choose ‘Get a quote for a purchase order’ on any license and we’ll prepare the documents your business office needs to raise one, including a sole source justification where your district requires it. Access and scheduling follow an accepted PO under agreed terms; requesting a quote alone does not confirm either.

Give your team a shared starting point.

We built the Framework, the system districts use to respond to school avoidance. Choose the coverage your school or district needs and bring its curriculum, practical resources and family-informed guidance to your team.

Explore Framework Plans