Check & Connect
Check & Connect is a model of sustained intervention and support to promote students’ engagement at school and with learning. Transition into high school can be a challenging time. Columbia Heights High School implemented the Check & Connect Program last fall to ensure that students are given the support needed to create a successful academic path. Long-term relationships are built to help students throughout their journey through high school towards graduation.
Check & Connect...
- Is based on building a relationship with each student. Trust and familiarity are developed over time through ongoing efforts like checking on students’ attendance and grades, providing regular feedback to students, communicating with families and schools, and initiating efforts to keep the student engaged in school.
- Provides interventions directed at keeping the student actively involved in his/her education. Focus is on the individual needs and personal development of the student, and on empowering families to provide educational and emotional support to their adolescents.
- Responds on a regular basis to students’ educational needs. The student knows that a monitor will be checking on them regularly and is willing to provide academic support including tutoring.
- Monitors indicators of school engagement and watches for early warning signs of school withdrawal, such as chronic absenteeism, course failure, and behavior concerns while in school.
- Uses a collaborative approach across the spheres of home, school, and community.
Key Features of Check and Connect
- Preventive: Focuses on risk factors that can be altered through intervention.
- Builds capacity: Promotes the acquisition of skills and successful school habits.
- Efficient: Builds upon existing resources and networks within systems of home, school, and community.
- Outreach: Structured to create long-term trusting connections between schools, youth, and families.
- Individualized: Systematically focuses on the individual needs of students.
- Adaptable: Uniquely designed to incorporate the goals and strengths of a local community.