Check & Connect Chronic Absence Prevention
Check & Connect is a national prevention and intervention-focused student support model aimed at engaging students showing signs of disengagement with their education, either while in school or through excessive absence from school.
In Tulsa, Check & Connect is a partnership between the Community Service Council, Tulsa Public Schools, The Oklahoma Department of Human Services and the Tulsa County Juvenile Bureau.
read Tulsa’s latest data & results report
Check & Connect Tulsa seeks to prevent and decrease truancy and high school drop-out rates by helping families develop healthy habits through school-wide positive relationships and targeted case management. The program is currently implemented at four schools in West Tulsa.
Core elements include:
- Relationship building
- Problem solving
- Family engagement
- Individualized intervention
All sites have a full-time School-Based Service Specialist who is the constant, caring presence at the school for students and families to help foster the development of life skills needed to be healthy and successful.
The biggest parts of this job are listening to find
out why kids and families are struggling, and
creating community to show them that they belong.*
Click below to read our past results reports.
Our Schools & Team
> Clinton Middle School, TPS
Charity Clark, OKDHS Social Worker
> Mark Twain Elementary, TPS
Kristen Granstaff, OKDHS Social Worker
> Remington Elementary, TPS
Karen Styers, OKDHS Social Worker
> Webster High School, TPS
Dr. Tracy Lewis, OKDHS Social Worker
> Community Service Council
Kelly Kruggel, Organizational Manager
Our Strategy
Our Check & Connect Specialists employ a two-prong approach to supporting children and families: Prevention and Intervention.
While intervention involves targeted monthly caseloads of 40 individual students and their families, the Specialist is also responsible for building positive relationships school-wide, acting as a trusted counselor and resource for all students and families. The strong bonds our Specialists form keep families engaged and children in school.
Our Steps to Success
Transforming the overall school culture to recognize and celebrate attendance
Targeted early assessment and intervention strategies
Connecting students and families with trusting relationships at school
Providing tutoring, counseling services and individualized attention while increasing family understanding of preventing truancy
Why Check & Connect is Critical for Student Success
- National testing data shows that students with higher absenteeism rates have lower scores on national standardized tests.
- If a child misses more than 10% of school days, her odds of scoring well on tests, graduating high school and attending college are significantly lower.
- Low-income children are 4x as likely to be chronically absent than their peers, often because they face challenges getting to school, such as lack of access to health care, community violence, unreliable transportation and unstable housing.
- The effects of poor school attendance are more pronounced among low-income children, who need more time in the classroom and are less likely to have access to resources outside of school.
- Nationally, an estimated one in 10 kindergarten and first-grade students are chronically absent.
- In a recent national attendance study, Oklahoma ranked among the bottom four states, with findings that 26% of 8th graders and 23% of 4th graders had missed more than three days of school in one month.
Source: Attendance Works.org
Learn more about Check & Connect nationally
* Quote by a Check & Connect Counselor from the October 2015 team meeting