Thanks for joining the Community, @luann4369. I'm here to lend a hand with having checks show as cleared.
There are three ways for a transaction to be marked as cleared. The first way is if they're selected while a reconcile is in progress. I've included a brief video to serve as an example of this:
Another way that a transaction can be recorded as cleared is if it is added or matched with a transaction from the Bank feed since this would indicate that it has been processed by the bank. Lastly, a transaction can have its reconcile status manually altered. I've included an article that covers this and contains the steps for it: Undo or remove transactions from reconciliation.
Since you're reconciling, I recommend the following resource which contains multiple articles to assist with this process, such as troubleshooting steps: Reconcile Hub.
That's it. I'm confident this will help to get you back to business.
As always, I'm just a quick post away if I can be of further assistance. Hoping this response finds you with a smile.