Abstract
Abstract Despite the intense focus on school dropout over the past 40 years, this pervasive social injustice continues to plague the United States. This chapter will provide a review of the extant literature on school dropout risk factors as well as the research on effective intervention and prevention programs. The chapter will begin with a rationale for focusing specifically on schools that serve students and families of color who reside in high poverty communities. The authors will critique the deficit-oriented framework that has been pervasive in school dropout literature. We hope to interrupt the dominant discourses that position poor students of color as inherently “at risk” for school dropout. The authors will present a case for counseling psychologists to develop social justice dropout prevention programs that focus primarily on institutional and structural changes. The chapter will also include a discussion of future directions for the field of counseling psychology.