School refusal and attendance goals

By the IEP Atlas editorial teamLast updated November 1, 2026

Short answer

School refusal IEP goals should teach the steps of coming to and staying in school, in small planned increments, alongside coping skills for the anxiety behind the refusal. Example: following her return plan, Hana will enter the building within 10 minutes of arrival and stay through second period on 4 of 5 school days for 3 consecutive weeks.

School refusal usually means a student has strong distress about being at school and avoids it, often with stomachaches, tears or pleading in the morning. It is different from skipping school to be elsewhere. For most students the driver is anxiety, so a goal that says "will attend 95% of days" asks for the end result without teaching any of the steps. Those goals tend to fail, and the student and family feel blamed.

Better goals follow a gradual return plan built by the team, with the school psychologist or a community therapist leading the anxiety work. The 12 goals below are fictional illustrations, written for school psychologists, counselors and case managers. For goals about attendance in general, including tardies and skipped classes, see attendance IEP goal examples. For the wider area, start with the social-emotional IEP goals guide.

Start with what keeps the student home

Before writing goals, find out what the refusal does for the student. An interview with the student and family, attendance records by day and period, and a short rating of morning distress usually make the picture clear. The four patterns below are a common way to sort it.

What the refusal does	Sub-skill to target	Measurement method
Escapes general distress or panic at school	Coping skills plus graded steps into the building	Steps completed on a return ladder, distress rating
Escapes specific social or test situations	Facing the feared situation with support	Opportunities: situations entered out of situations planned
Keeps a parent close	Separating at drop-off	Latency recording: minutes from arrival to entering
Home offers screens, sleep or comfort	Morning routine and school day structure	Days arrived by start time

Many students show more than one pattern. Agree on the main one, because it decides whether the plan leans on coping practice, a drop-off routine or home changes.

Arriving and entering the building

These goals target the hardest moment of the day. Each step should be one the student can reach with effort, not a leap from home to a full day.

1. Entering on arrival. Following her return plan, Hana will enter the building within 10 minutes of arriving at school on 4 of 5 school days for 3 consecutive weeks. Baseline: enters within 10 minutes on 1 of 5 days; often goes home.
2. Drop-off routine. At drop-off, Leo will say goodbye to his parent using the 3-step routine (hug, phrase, walk to the greeter) within 3 minutes on 4 of 5 days. Baseline: drop-off takes 20 to 40 minutes, ending in a parent leaving with him on 2 of 5 days.
3. Using the arrival space. On arrival, Hana will go to the counseling office, complete a 5-minute check-in and walk to class with or without an adult, on 8 of 10 days. Baseline: 0 of 10; stays in the car.

Weak: "Hana will attend school daily." Measurable: goal 1. It targets the first real step and pairs with a written plan the team can adjust.

Staying in class longer

The return ladder adds time gradually: one period, then two, then a half day. Move up a step when the student meets the current step on most days for 2 weeks.

4. Time in class. Using his return ladder, Marcus will stay in scheduled classes for the target number of periods (starting at 2, raised by 1 period after each 2-week success) on 4 of 5 days. Baseline: averages 1 period a day across 3 weeks.
5. Staying after a hard moment. When distressed in class, Hana will use her break pass for up to 10 minutes and return to class, instead of calling home, in 4 of 5 recorded episodes. Baseline: calls home in 4 of 5 episodes.
6. Full days. Marcus will attend full school days on 9 of 10 days for 4 consecutive weeks, by the end of the IEP year. Baseline: 2 full days in the last 20 school days.

Weak: "Marcus will stay in school all day." Measurable: goal 4. It builds up in steps with a clear rule for moving up.

Coping with anxiety at school

These goals belong to the mental health side of the plan. They are usually taught in counseling and then used in class, so the counseling goals guide and the coping skills goals guide pair well with them.

7. Rating distress. At the morning check-in, Leo will rate his worry on a 0 to 10 scale and name what he is worried about, on 8 of 10 days. Baseline: says "I don't know" on 9 of 10 days.
8. Calming strategy. When his worry rating is 6 or higher, Leo will complete a calming strategy (paced breathing for 2 minutes or a grounding card) and re-rate, on 4 of 5 occasions. Baseline: 0 of 5.
9. Facing a feared situation. With the counselor's support, Sofia will take part in a planned step toward a feared class situation (for example, reading one sentence aloud in a small group) in 3 of 4 planned exposures per month. Baseline: 0 of 4; leaves class before the activity.

Weak: "Leo will reduce his anxiety." Measurable: goal 8. It names the trigger point, the strategy and the count.

Catching up and staying connected

Missed weeks pile up into missed work, and the pile becomes one more reason to avoid school. Address it directly.

10. Catch-up plan. With his case manager, Marcus will follow a weekly catch-up plan listing no more than 3 priority assignments, completing at least 2 of 3 each week for 6 weeks. Baseline: 14 missing assignments; 0 turned in over 3 weeks.
11. Asking for help on missed work. Sofia will email or tell a teacher which part of a missed lesson she needs help with, at least 1 time per week in 4 of 5 weeks. Baseline: 0 contacts.
12. Staying in touch on absent days. On a day she is absent, Hana will complete a short check-in with the counselor by phone or video before noon, on 4 of 5 absent days. Baseline: no contact on absent days.

Weak: "Marcus will make up missing work." Measurable: goal 10. It shrinks the pile into a weekly number the student can reach.

How to measure school refusal goals

Use three sources. Attendance by period from the office record shows time in school. A simple return-ladder sheet shows which step the student reached each day. A daily distress rating from the check-in shows whether anxiety is easing as attendance rises. If time in school goes up but distress stays high, the plan may be moving too fast.

Review the data every 2 weeks as a team, including the family and any outside therapist with the parent's consent. Record arrival time and minutes in the building on a latency data sheet for drop-off goals. For coping goals, an opportunity data sheet works: each high rating is an opportunity, and the sheet records whether the strategy was used.

Short-term objectives for a return plan

Enters the building and stays in the arrival space for 30 minutes on 4 of 5 days.
Attends 2 scheduled classes on 4 of 5 days.
Attends a half day on 4 of 5 days.
Attends full days on 9 of 10 days.

Adapting by age

Age group	What often drives refusal	Goal emphasis
K to 2	Separation from a parent	Drop-off routine, greeter, short first step
Grades 3 to 5	General worry, a specific fear, stomachaches	Distress rating, coping card, period-by-period ladder
Middle school	Social fears, falling behind, transitions	Feared-situation steps, catch-up plan
High school	Accumulated absences, low mood, credit loss	Catch-up and credit recovery, counseling, adult check-ins

When a student's behavior impedes learning, the IEP team must consider positive behavioral interventions and supports.^[1] NASP describes school-based mental health services as part of a coordinated system that connects school staff with families and community providers, which fits the team approach school refusal needs.^[2] The IEP must also say how progress on each goal will be measured and reported.^[3]

Goal wording to adapt is on the school attendance goals page and in IEP goals for anxiety. Classroom supports for the same students are in anxiety accommodations. Check each goal with the goal checker.

Frequently asked questions

Is school refusal the same as truancy?

No. School refusal usually involves distress about being at school, and parents often know the child is home. Truancy usually means missing school without the parents knowing, often to be somewhere else. The goals and supports for each are different.

Should a school refusal goal require full attendance right away?

Usually not. A goal that jumps straight to full days rarely works for an anxious student. Use a return ladder with small steps, such as entering the building, then one or two periods, then half days, and raise the target after each success.

Who should be on the team for a student with school refusal?

The case manager, the school psychologist or counselor, a teacher who knows the student, an administrator for attendance, and the family. With the parent's consent, include any outside therapist so the school plan and therapy work toward the same steps.

Use it in IEP Atlas

Sources

34 CFR §300.324: Development, review, and revision of IEP, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
NASP Position Statement: School-Based Mental and Behavioral Health Services, National Association of School Psychologists
34 CFR §300.320: Definition of individualized education program, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School

Written and checked by the IEP Atlas editorial team under our editorial policy. This guide describes general practice and federal rules. It is not legal advice; your state may add requirements, and the IEP team makes the decisions for each student.