Preventing School Dropout

Check & Connect is Transition Solutions’ proven model of sustained intervention for promoting students' engagement with school and learning. Demonstrated outcomes of Check & Connect include decreased truancy, decreased dropout rates, increased accrual of credits, increased school completion rates, and improved literacy.

Check & Connect uses a research-based comprehensive approach toward promoting students’ engagement with school. It has met the evidence standards of the Institute of Education Sciences’ What Works Clearinghouse. Key features of the model are interrelated and include —

Relationship building in a context of mutual trust and open communication
Routine monitoring of alterable indicators such as attendance, academic performance, and behavior
Individualized and timely intervention
A long-term commitment to students and families, even if they change schools
A persistent source of academic motivation
Teaching of problem-solving skills
Affiliation with school and learning through student access to and participation in school-related activities and events

For more details about Check & Connect, visit http://ici.umn.edu/checkandconnect/.

Transition Solutions is committed to helping your school or district improve secondary education and transition systems using our proven dropout prevention intervention, Check & Connect. Our skilled trainers will work with your school or district to introduce you to Check & Connect and assist you in its implementation.

Dropout Prevention Services from Transition Solutions

Transition Solutions’ dropout prevention services are customized to meet your district or school’s specific needs. Options include three levels of service ranging from a half-day orientation workshop to ongoing consultation (see below for more details on all levels).

Participants will receive copies of —

The nationally-recognized Essential Tools: Increasing Rates of School Completion: Moving from Policy and Research to Practice, A Manual for Policymakers, Administrators, and Educators, a comprehensive guide published by the National Center on Secondary Education and Transition
Keeping Kids in School: Using Check & Connect for Dropout Prevention, published by the Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota

Participants in levels 2 and 3 will receive additional materials.

Level 1: Introduction to Check & Connect

Transition Solutions offers a half-day orientation workshop on Check & Connect. In this workshop, participants will learn —

How Check & Connect decreases dropout and other negative outcomes for youth.
A step-by-step process for implementing Check & Connect.
New approaches to leverage and engage community resources and effectively collaborate with various community partners to promote student engagement in school.

Level 2: Build Capacity Using Check & Connect

Transition Solutions views Check & Connect as a process tailored to the needs of each individual student, family, school, and district. Through a series of visits, our expert staff will help you implement Check & Connect, including —

Working with you to hire monitors and identify a project coordinator.
Training monitors using an updated version of the Check & Connect implementation guide, Keeping Kids in School.
Identifying disengaged special education and at-risk students using indicators of disengagement.
Setting criteria for each indicator to determine the need for basic and/or intensive interventions.
Organizing and brokering existing services and resources for intervention.
Beginning systematic monitoring and timely interventions.

Level 3: Strengthen Systems Using Check & Connect

As you work to implement Check & Connect in your district or school, we will support you by —

Completing a technical review to evaluate progress and make any mid-course corrections.
Designing and conducting 40 hours of technical assistance to support the implementation of Check & Connect.
Providing desk-based electronic support as needed.

Transition Solutions PDF