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At the Evidence Resource Center, we aim to help Pennsylvania’s school communities thoughtfully apply high-quality, relevant research to their own settings. Explore these topics to brush up on research basics, ESSA tiers, and the fundamentals of evidence-based decision making.
Clearinghouses
See also:
Why doesn't the ERC include a strategy I found on another clearinghouse?
The ERC is not a comprehensive list of strategies available to local education agencies and schools, and Pennsylvania education agencies may choose strategies not found on the ERC. The ERC has specific criteria, protocols and prioritization schemes that determine which strategies are listed on the ERC. Explore our research process here.
What if the ERC and another clearinghouse have conflicting evidence ratings?
The ERC follows specific evidence review processes and standardized criteria to assign suggested ESSA tiers of evidence. Some clearinghouses use their own evidence rating systems, or are displaying the results of evidence reviews conducted under a different version of the What Works Clearinghouse standards. All school leaders should analyze the ESSA tier published on any clearinghouse within the context of their own school setting and population. If you have a concern about the accuracy of an ERC rating, please contact us! If you need assistance evaluating the appropriate ESSA tier for your school and setting, explore our ESSA Tier resources here.
The ERC locates, curates, and shares evidence on a variety of educational strategies. To ensure quality, fairness, clarity and transparency, we work to align the research methods of the ERC with those of leading clearinghouses and top research organizations. Our processes include:
Protocols outlining specific, transparent approaches to selecting and prioritizing strategies for review
Clear, documented criteria for searching literature for studies of effectiveness
Transparent, multi-layered process for evidence selection, review and quality control
Rigorous approaches to assessing studies against quality standards
Scheduled opportunities to seek input from a wide array of stakeholders about practices and programs to review
What the ERC is Not
While the ERC can serve many purposes for an education stakeholder making evidence-based decisions, the ERC is not:
Comprehensive
The ERC does not include all strategies that address outcomes in a given topic area. We regularly add more strategies and evidence to the ERC.
Prescriptive
By providing a suggested ESSA tier, complemented by educational materials on evidence-based decision-making, we aim to be a useful source of information for education stakeholders. However, a listing on the ERC is not an endorsement of the strategy, and PA schools are welcome to use strategies found in other clearinghouses. We know that the best decisions are made locally, considering context, capacity, and other factors of successful implementation.
Finished
The ERC uses an annual roadmap that explains how it will add additional strategies in key topic areas, and we welcome your suggestions! In addition to a strategic roadmap, we continually gather feedback and input from Pennsylvania stakeholders, including school leaders, educators, researchers, and community members.
Didn’t find what you were looking for?
Explore these other leading clearinghouses to find additional evidence-based strategies:
What Works Clearinghouse (Institute of Education Sciences)
Social Programs That Work (Arnold Ventures’ Evidence-Based Policy team)
Blueprints Program (Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development)
SAMHSA Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center (formerly NREPP: National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices)
Crime Solutions (National Institute of Justice)
The following resources contain topic-specific toolkits, research, and additional lists of programs and practices:
What to look for in an evidence clearinghouse
When searching educational databases or clearinghouses, look for:
Protocols
Does the site publish specific methods for their research, evidence reviews, and rating systems?Standards
Does the site use reputable, well-tested standards for evidence review and quality ratings?Alignment to Tiers
Be sure that if the clearinghouse has coined their own terms for evidence quality, that you understand how those terms match up to the ESSA tiers. Explore this resource for a crosswalk of leading clearinghouses to ESSA tiers:
Leveraging Open Access Journals
Open Access Journals provide free access to scholarly, peer-reviewed research on educational topics. Be sure to include these tools on your list of go-to sources as you gather evidence: