Efficacy of the Check & Connect Mentoring Program for At-Risk General Education High School Students
Abstract
Although graduation rates are rising, the high school dropout problem remains a national crisis, and evidence-based information about interventions for at-risk students is critically needed. Prior research shows that Check & Connect, an individualized mentoring program, has positive effects on school persistence and progression for students with disabilities. This study examined the efficacy of Check & Connect with general education students who showed early warning signs of risk for dropping out of high school in a large urban district. The sample included 553 students with the lowest predicted probabilities of on-time graduation based on attendance, behavior, and course performance in Grades 8 and 9. Students were randomly assigned to receive a Check & Connect mentor for three years, starting in the summer after Grade 9, or not. Findings suggest the program was implemented with fidelity, except with students who left district schools. Check & Connect did not have any statistically significant impacts on measures of engagement, academic progress, the likelihood of dropping out, or graduation. These results are discussed in the context of other literature on mentoring and dropout prevention.
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An impactful form of peer-to-peer support can be found in mentoring programs, such as Check and Connect.
“An impactful form of peer-to-peer support can be found in mentoring programs, such as Check and Connect (Guryan et al., 2021;Heppen et al., 2018).”
From Their voices matter: student and professional perspectives on overcoming school attendance problems in the context of social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties (2025) · cites this paper as Heppen et al., 2018
Heppen et al. (2018) observed that the timing of the program and variations in the target population contributed to the ineffectiveness of their programs.
“Heppen et al. (2018) observed that the timing of the program and variations in the target population contributed to the ineffectiveness of their programs.”
From Outcome domains and assessment measures in school-based youth mentoring programs: a systematic review (2026) · cites this paper as Heppen et al. (2018)
Significant challenges, including high student mobility, large mentor caseloads, and a lack of clear service differentiation between treatment and control groups, affected program quality, and consequently, students generally did not experience the program as intended.
“They also noted that significant challenges, including high student mobility, large mentor caseloads, and a lack of clear service differentiation between treatment and control groups, affected program quality, and consequently, students generally did not experience the program as intended.”
From Outcome domains and assessment measures in school-based youth mentoring programs: a systematic review (2026) · cites this paper as Heppen et al. (2018)
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- Authors
- Heppen, J. B., Zeiser, K., Holtzman, D. J., O'Cummings, M., Christenson, S., & Pohl, A.
- Affiliations
- American Institutes for Research (US)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Corresponding author
- Heppen, Jessica B.
- Venue
- Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2017-05-25
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 56-82
- ISSN
- 1934-5739 (ISSN-L)
- 1934-5747
- OpenAlex
- W2606207466
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 4.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Institute of Education Sciences (R305A110252)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mentoring and Academic Development
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Youth Development and Social Support
- Social Sciences › Education › Higher Education Research Studies
- Keywords
- mentoring programs, high school dropout prevention, at-risk students, general education students, school persistence, graduation rates, early warning indicators, implementation fidelity, urban schools, student engagement, academic progress
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