Skip to content. Check and Connect - A model for promoting student's engagement in school.

Located at the Institute on Community Integration, a University Affiliated Program on Developmental Disabilities

College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota

Funded by the Office of Special Education Programs, US Department of Education

The Check & Connect Model

Overview

The Check & Connect model was developed with input from individuals directly involved with youth placed at high risk for school failure – regular education teachers, special education teachers and support staff, the parents and students themselves, and a team of researchers. This effort was led by a partnership between the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Public Schools, Dakota County Community Services, and area public schools. Check & Connect first evolved from a study funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. The model was initially developed for urban middle school students with learning and behavioral challenges and was designed to promote students’ engagement with school and learning, and to reduce and prevent dropping out. The model is currently being replicated and field-tested for youth with and without disabilities in grades K-12 in urban and suburban communities.


Key Features of the Model

The Check & Connect model uses a comprehensive approach to promoting students' engagement. Key features of the model are interrelated and include:

  • Relationship Building — mutual trust and open communication, nurtured through a long-term commitment focused on students' educational success.
  • Routine Monitoring of Alterable Indicators — systemically checking warning signs of withdrawal (attendance, academic performance, behavior) that are readily available to school personnel and that can be altered through intervention.
  • Individualized and Timely Intervention — support tailored to individual student needs, based on level of engagement with school, associated influences of home and school, and the leveraging of local resources.
  • Long-Term Commitment — committing to students and families for at least two years, including the ability to follow highly mobile youth from school to school and program to program.
  • Persistence Plus — a persistent source of academic motivation, a continuity of familiarity with the youth and family, and a consistency in the message that "education is important for your future".
  • Problem-Solving — designed to promote the acquisition of skills to resolve conflict constructively and to look for solutions rather than a source of blame.
  • Affiliation with School and Learning — facilitating students' access to and active participation in school-related activities and events.
Top of Page

The Role of the Monitor/Mentor

The person responsible for facilitating a student’s connection with school and learning is referred to as the monitor or mentor. The role of the monitor was modeled after one of the commonly identified protective factors in resiliency literature – the presence of an adult in a child's life to fuel the motivation and foster the development of life skills needed to overcome obstacles. The monitor's primary goal is to promote regular school participation and to keep education a salient issue for students, parents, and teachers.

The monitor extends the school’s outreach services to the youth and family in an effort to better understand the circumstances affecting their connection to school and to persistently work with the youth and family to overcome barriers that have kept them estranged from school and learning. One of the students who participated in Check & Connect described the role of the monitor as "the person who stay[ed] on my back about coming to school."

The following skills and attitudes are required of monitors:

  • persistence
  • a belief that all children have abilities
  • willingness to work closely with families using a non-blaming approach
  • advocacy skills, including the ability to negotiate, compromise, and confront conflict
  • good organizational skills and accurate documentation of intervention efforts
  • the ability to work well independently in a variety of settings

The monitor uses individualized intervention strategies to help the student develop habits of learning and successful engagement. Trust and familiarity are developed by the monitor over time through persistent outreach to the student and family. Efforts include checking on student attendance and academic performance regularly, providing ongoing feedback about student progress, modeling the use of problem-solving skills, communicating frequently with families about both good and bad news, and being available to the youth to listen to their personal concerns. The monitors' interactions with students, parents, educators, and others are guided by the "check" and "connect" components of the model.

Top of Page

Checking & Connecting

The "check" component is designed to facilitate the continuous assessment of student levels of engagement with school and to guide intervention. Student levels of engagement are systematically monitored monthly and documented using a monitoring sheet. Engagement at school and with learning is measured according to several indicators that are alterable—that is, factors within the power of educators and parents to change. Alterable indicators include attendance (tardy to school, skipping classes, absenteeism), social/behavior performance (out-of-school suspension, other disciplinary consequences such as behavior referrals, detention, in-school suspension), and academic performance (course failures, accrual of credits). The monitors obtain attendance information and the other indicators of participation primarily from school records, attendance clerks, teachers, and assistant principals. These individuals also are consulted to clarify contradictory information, as are the student or parent(s).

The "connect" component includes two levels of student-focused interventions developed to maximize the use of finite resources: basic intervention, which is the same for all students, and intensive interventions, which are more frequent and individualized. All students receive basic interventions (even if receiving intensive interventions), whereas indicators of student engagement are used to guide who receives the delivery of intensive interventions. The individual needs of the student dictate what specific intervention strategy is used. The two levels of intervention help the monitors to manage their time and resources with efficiency and responsiveness.

Basic Intervention. As a sustained preventive measure, basic intervention is administered to all targeted students. Basic intervention uses minimal resources in an effort to keep education a salient issue, especially after a working relationship has been established between the monitor, the student, his/her parents, and school staff. Basic interventions begin with introductions and sharing general information about the monitor’s role and the Check & Connect model with the student and his/her family. Monitors routinely interact with students when on site at the school building, at least weekly at the secondary level and up to daily at the elementary level. However, the substance of basic intervention is a deliberate conversation with each student – at least monthly for secondary students and weekly for elementary students. The conversation covers the student's progress in school, the relationship between school completion and the "check" indicators of engagement, the importance of staying in school, and the problem-solving steps used to resolve conflict and cope with life's challenges. For problem solving, students are guided through real and/or hypothetical problems using a five-step cognitive-behavioral problem-solving strategy:

  1. "Stop. Think about the problem."
  2. "What are the choices?"
  3. "Choose one."
  4. "Do it."
  5. "How did it work?"

The repeated conversations provide a regular opportunity for monitors to share information and reinforce skills that students need to actively promote their own connection with school.

Intensive Intervention. Intensive interventions are administered for students showing high risk in relation to any of the early warning signs of withdrawal. Typically, about two-thirds to three-quarters of the students receive intensive intervention at any given time. Connection strategies correspond to key indicators of student engagement (e.g., participation or identification with school) and are developmentally appropriate to grade levels. Existing services are used as much as possible, rather than developing a separate set of duplicative services.

Examples of elementary intensive student interventions include:

  • Participation – calling the student in the morning to make sure they are out of bed and getting ready for school
  • Student Initiative and Responsibility – helping students regularly apply organizational skills
  • Academic Competence – working with students and parents to establish effective homework completion strategies

Examples of secondary intensive student interventions include:

  • Identification – encouraging active student and parent participation in the transition planning process for students with disabilities and facilitating interagency participation in the development and implementation of relevant transition goals and objectives
  • Social/Behavioral Competence – role playing the use of problem-solving steps to manage conflict and think about alternative actions
  • School Support for Learning – negotiating with school administrators for alternatives to out-of-school suspension and/or administrative transfers
Top of Page

Family Outreach

Communication and collaboration between home and school is an integral component of the model and most explicit at the elementary level. Strategies used to enhance communication between home and school regarding students' educational progress range from frequent telephone calls to home visits or meetings at a neutral community setting or the school. The orientation adopted by Check & Connect mirrors dimensions that are the foundation of family-centered practice. A critical goal of parent-connect efforts, particularly at the elementary level, is working with families as partners to increase their active participation in their children’s education. For many families, the move from a passive to an active role requires persistence, trust, and open communication. Essentially, the monitors build trusting relationships with families by affirming the importance of the role played by parents and by helping parents gain the skills and confidence to constructively take initiative with the schools and to help their children be consistent learners.


A Day in the Life of a Monitor

9:00 PM

  • Phone call to parent to invite them to my office for a cup of coffee and an opportunity to ask questions, voice concerns, and have a conversation before their child's special education IEP meeting in the morning.

6:30 AM

  • Made a wake-up call to a middle school student.
  • Called last night's parent to remind her of the morning meeting by asking if she wanted regular or decaf coffee.
  • Attended an IEP review meeting before school (met parent in my office for a cup of coffee and conversation before meeting).
  • Visited kids in cafeteria at breakfast, handed out pencils, and did a little rally for a great day.
  • Greeted kids at front door of school.
  • Walked through halls; did a visual check of who was and was not there.
  • Had a quick conversation with a teacher who was trying to set up a meeting with a parent; agreed to call parent and try to set up the meeting.
  • Checked in with attendance guru; found out why some folks weren't in school.
  • Called parent of kid who missed bus; asked if he needed a ride to school. Picked up kid, quick chat with mom, then back to school.
  • Met with a 4th grader, reviewed her attendance for the past 2 months, looked through her agenda, played UNO, and talked about how well she is doing in school.
  • Met with a 2nd grader in the library; she picked out a book and read it to me. We walked to my office, did attendance check-in, and talked about her agenda.
  • Visited a kindergartener. We worked on a worksheet and then read a story together. Talked about waking up in the morning and how fun it is to ride the bus each day.
  • Hung out in the lunchroom with kids.
  • Visited with 5 more kids 1:1.
  • Walked the kids who stay after school for homework help to the room. Hung out there for a few minutes helping out.
  • Picked up a middle school student who had earned a bowling trip because of amazing attendance, and went bowling.

7:30 PM

  • Made 3 phone calls to middle school students to see how their days went and to check in on their homework progress.
Top of Page

Referral Criteria

Participation in Check & Connect has been under both voluntary and mandatory conditions. Students have been referred primarily on the basis of chronic attendance problems – absences, tardies to school, or skipping classes. Other criteria include factors that have been shown to increase the likelihood of truancy and withdrawal from school, including a history of siblings or parents with school problems, grades and assignment completion, disability, and other academic and behavioral challenges. While economics and other status variables can influence a student's engagement, they are not used as referral criteria. The voluntary referral procedure draws upon two overlapping strategies. A list is generated of students who have been absent, tardy, and/or skipping 10-15% or more of the time during the current and/or previous school years. Teachers are also asked to make referrals using the same criteria specified on a referral form. Names from the two sources are cross-referenced by key school personnel (principal, attendance clerk, nurse, other school personnel) and/or project staff for final selection.

Mandatory referral to Check & Connect typically begins with a school’s truancy petition to the County Attorney’s Office. The petitions are screened by the county. Within the context of this pilot, referrals to Check & Connect were chronically truant youth did not respond to front-line interventions (diversion meetings, warning letters, school outreach).

Recent applications of Check & Connect with elementary students have broadened referral criteria to include academic delays, especially in literacy skills, and signs of agressive behavior.


Secondary Check & Connect Profile: Typical Student at Referral

Robyn and Joshua's Story

Robyn and Joshua are friends, although they attend different schools. Robyn lives with her mother, stepfather, and two younger siblings and was in 8th grade when she was referred to Check & Connect. Joshua lives with his mother and has never had much contact with his father. Josh mentioned that he was particularly upset around the time he started with Check & Connect because he found out that he had to move again. His older sibling had gotten them kicked out of their apartment for having too many parties. Josh was in 9th grade at referral.

Joshua was supposed to be in 10th grade, but had been held back from high school and had to repeat 8th grade. Josh's records indicated that he was suspended often throughout his middle school tenure for verbally abusing school staff. His counselor reported that some of Josh's teachers were fearful his aggressive language would turn physical. But Joshua had never been referred for an educational assessment, nor was his mother comfortable with the idea of "labeling" her son.

Robyn just doesn't go to school. Her teachers describe her as a quiet kid who does not call much attention to herself. Her teachers believe she is capable of doing the work, but is failing classes because she misses so much school. Prior to referral, Robyn was absent over 25% of the time. Robyn's mom shared that she had become worn out and highly frustrated with her daughter's apparent lack of motivation. She felt like she was being punished for Robyn's mistakes and could not afford to jeopardize another job by repeatedly asking for time off.

Neither youth spends much time at home. They meet up with their friends after school or cut out early from school to hang out at the mall or someone's house where no adult is present. Robyn has mentioned that she does not like to go home until late to avoid getting in another argument with her mom. Josh says he stays away because his mother is "crazy". She struggles with mental health challenges. Both youth have been ticketed for violations related to tobacco, curfew, shoplifting, and minor consumption.


Top of Page