Mentoring Program Check-In Feature: How Weekly Self-Monitoring Drives Better Outcomes
The Check-In Feature: How MentorPRO Turns Weekly Self-Monitoring into Meaningful Support
Most mentoring programs wait for mentees to bring up problems. By the time a struggling young person speaks up, the situation has often already escalated.
At MentorPRO, mentees have a structured, research-informed way to surface challenges before they become crises — and mentors have the real-time data they need to respond. The Check-In feature is not a wellness survey. It is a proven engagement tool with published evidence behind it.
What Is Check-In in a Mentoring Program?
MentorPRO’s Check-In is a brief weekly feature that prompts mentees to rate their current level of challenge across seven domains:
- Academic habits
- Academic planning
- Connections
- Finances
- Physical health
- Well-being
- Career
Ratings run from “going well” to “very challenging.” When a mentee signals serious difficulty, their mentor receives an alert and is trained to respond with targeted outreach and, when needed, a referral to professional support. Program coordinators see aggregate challenge data in real time, making proactive outreach possible across an entire caseload.
The seven domains were selected based on empirical research on the challenges most likely to affect young people during major life transitions, and refined through direct input from mentees and program staff.
Check-In vs. Traditional Program Support
| MentorPRO Check-In | Traditional Program Support | |
| Timing | Weekly, proactive | Reactive, mentee-initiated |
| Barrier to access | Very low — takes under a minute | Moderate — requires scheduling |
| Coverage | Every mentee, every week | Mentees who self-report |
| Data | Real-time, program-wide | Individual, episodic |
| Best for | Early identification, targeted outreach | Crisis response, deep support |
Why MentorPRO’s Check-In Is Different
The seven Check-In domains were not chosen arbitrarily. They emerged from empirical research and were refined through a user-centered design process grounded in Weisz and colleagues’ (2011) idiographic assessment framework, originally developed for psychotherapy. That framework emphasizes tracking the specific challenge areas most relevant to an individual’s current functioning — not generic wellness questions. MentorPRO applies that clinical logic at scale, for every mentee, every week.
Most mentoring platforms track whether mentees show up. MentorPRO tracks how they are doing week by week, across the dimensions that predict whether they stay engaged and succeed.
The design also draws on self-monitoring theory — one of the most well-established behavioral strategies in health and education research. Self-monitoring is most powerful when paired with structured human support — exactly what Check-In delivers by connecting mentee signals directly to trained, supervised mentors. This connects naturally to MentorPRO’s Goal Setting and Matching features, which together create a fully integrated support system.
The Evidence Behind MentorPRO’s Check-In Feature
A peer-reviewed study published in the International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education examined Check-In engagement across 2,572 first-year students at a private northeastern university (Werntz, Deng, Jasman, Yowell, and Rhodes, in press). The study used propensity score matching to control for first-generation status, underrepresented minority identity, gender, and high school GPA.
More frequent Check-In completion was significantly associated with higher GPA, academic self-efficacy, and overall wellbeing — even after controlling for gender, first-generation status, and race.
Key findings:
- More frequent Check-In use significantly associated with higher end-of-year GPA
- Among frequent users: significant association with higher academic self-efficacy
- Among frequent users: significant association with higher overall well-being
- Findings held across racially and economically diverse subgroups
- Even low levels of engagement — just a few Check-Ins per cycle — were meaningfully associated with better outcomes
A prior feasibility study (Werntz et al., 2023) found the same pattern across an independent sample, providing converging evidence across two years of implementation. Together, these two studies make MentorPRO’s Check-In one of the most rigorously evaluated wellbeing monitoring features in any mentoring platform.
Check-In in Practice: A Real Example
Consider a mentee who rates finances and well-being as “very challenging” midway through the program cycle. Their mentor receives an alert, sends a message that same day, and connects them with relevant community resources.
Without Check-In, that mentee might have quietly disengaged, missed a critical window for support, and slipped through the cracks. With it, a trained mentor caught the signal in time.
That is the stepped-care model in action — scalable, proactive, and built on evidence.
Getting Started
MentorPRO’s Check-In feature is available as part of the full MentorPRO platform for colleges and universities, nonprofits, youth-serving organizations, workforce development programs, and corporate partners. Fully customizable, smartphone and browser-based, it integrates with your existing mentoring program and support infrastructure — including our Goal Setting and Matching features.
Frequently Asked Questions About Check-In
What is MentorPRO’s Check-In feature?
Check-In is a brief weekly self-monitoring tool that prompts mentees to rate challenge level across seven domains. When mentees signal serious difficulty, their mentor receives an alert and responds with targeted support or a referral.
Does Check-In actually improve outcomes?
Yes. In a study of 2,572 first-year students — using propensity score matching to control for known risk factors — more frequent Check-In use was significantly associated with higher GPA, academic self-efficacy, and overall well-being. Replicated across two independent years of implementation.
How often do mentees complete Check-In?
Mentees receive a weekly push notification and can submit a Check-In once every 24 hours. Completion is optional and takes under one minute.
How does Check-In fit into a stepped-care model?
Check-In is the first line of a stepped-care model. Mild challenges are addressed through mentor outreach. More serious concerns are escalated to professional staff or community services — making proactive support scalable without overburdening trained professionals.
What domains does MentorPRO’s Check-In assess?
Seven domains: academic habits, academic planning, connections, finances, physical health, well-being, and career — all drawn from research on the challenges most common during major life transitions.
References
Guo, P., et al. (2022). Self-monitoring and academic outcomes: A systematic review. Educational Psychology Review.
Weisz, J. R., et al. (2011). Youth top problems: Using idiographic, consumer-guided assessment to identify treatment needs and to track change during psychotherapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 79(3), 369–380.
Werntz, A., Deng, Y., Jasman, M., Yowell, C., and Rhodes, J. E. (in press). Effects of a technology-enhanced university peer mentoring program on first-year academic and well-being outcomes. International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education. Link to be added upon publication.
Werntz, A., Hagler, M., Heleniak, C., and Rhodes, J. E. (2023). Acceptability and feasibility of a technology-enhanced peer mentoring program for first-year college students. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1177/15210251231163466
