Check & Connect

Check & Connect is an intervention used with K-12 students who show warning signs of disengagement with school and who are at risk of dropping out. At the core of Check & Connect is a trusting relationship between the student and a caring, trained mentor who both advocates for and challenges the student to keep education salient. Students are referred to Check & Connect when they show warning signs of disengaging from school, such as poor attendance, behavioral issues, and/or low grades. In Check & Connect, the "Check" component refers to the process where mentors systematically monitor student performance variables (e.g., absences, tardies, behavioral referrals, grades), while the "Connect" component refers to mentors providing personalized, timely interventions to help students solve problems, build skills, and enhance competence. Mentors work with caseloads of students and families for at least two years, functioning as liaisons between home and school and striving to build constructive family-school relationships.

The goal of Check & Connect is to encourage middle and high school students to stay on track towards graduation. Check & Connect seeks to foster student engagement at school and with learning. In Check & Connect, engagement is defined as commitment to and investment in learning, as well as identification with and belonging at school. Engagement is associated with desired academic, behavioral, cognitive, and affective outcomes, such as persisting in school and graduating.

Students who participate in Check & Connect are significantly more likely to stay in high school than similar peers who did not receive the intervention (24%). Students who participate in Check & Connect are significantly more likely to complete high school than peers who did not receive the intervention (20%).

Demonstrated outcomes of Check & Connect include increases in attendance, persistence in school, credit accrual and school completion rates. Results of the program also include decreases in truancy, tardies, behavioral referrals, and drop-out rates.