The Effect of Mentoring on School Attendance and Academic Outcomes: A Randomized Evaluation of the Check & Connect Program

Abstract

The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peerreviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

Reducing Student Absenteeism in the Early Grades by Targeting Parental Beliefs

“…Other interventions that employ mentors and social workers can cost over $120 per incremental school day (Balfanz & Byrnes, 2013; Sinclair et al, 1998). The evaluation of the Check & Connect program, the only randomized controlled trial evaluating the impact of mentors on student attendance, resulted in improved attendance for a subgroup of students (3.4 fewer absences for middle school students) and cost over $1,500 per student per year (Guryan et al, 2017). Furthermore, the intervention mobilizes the efforts of a costless resource for schools and students: parents.…”

“…Furthermore, there is a dearth of experimental evidence on low-cost programs that meaningfully reduce student absenteeism at scale. An evaluation of the Check & Connect program, which aims to improve student engagement and attendance for students with learning and emotional/behavioral disabilities by providing students with dedicated mentors, saw increases in attendance for middle school students but not for elementary school students (Guryan et al, 2017; Sinclair, Christenson, Evelo, & Hurley, 1998). Specifically, the program decreased absences for students in grades 5 through 7 by three days, but there were no statistically significant effects of participating for students in grades 1 through 4.…”

Using Behavioral Insights to Improve School Administrative Communications: The Case of Truancy Notifications

“…Our experiment improved attendance by modifying existing communications, without adjusting administrative burdens or imposing additional costs on the district. Experimental evidence shows that implementing and supporting attendance interventions beyond a district’s normal practice, such as attendance mailers (Robinson et al, 2018; Rogers & Feller, 2018), reminders delivered via text message (Kalil et al, 2019), or attendance mentors (Guryan et al, 2017), can positively affect student attendance. This study shows that there are also gains to be made from simple and virtually costless modifications to existing institutional processes.…”

“…These minor changes reduced student absences by 0.07 days in the following month, an approximate 40% improvement over the estimated impact of the standard letter. Existing empirical evidence shows that interventions such as personalized mailers (Robinson et al, 2018; Rogers & Feller, 2018), reminders delivered via text message (Kalil et al, 2019), and mentors (Guryan et al, 2017) can positively affect student attendance. But these proven interventions all involve implementing programs beyond a district’s normal practice.…”

School Attendance and Problematic School Absenteeism in Youth

“…These approaches are generally aimed at the percentage of all students/families who display these problems and may include the many psychological and psychiatric interventions designed for this population as well as approaches to enhance individual student engagement and school connectedness (Estell and Perdue, 2013;. Mentoring and monitoring approaches may be relevant in this regard as well (Guryan et al, 2017). Many of these Tier 2 approaches can be and have been adapted as well for more severe cases of school absenteeism (i.e., Tier 3) , but many Tier 2 approaches tend to work better for cases of less severe absenteeism with fewer complicating factors .…”