What Works Clearinghouse

Practice Guides

U.S Department of Education

Institute of Education Sciences (IES)

What Works Clearinghouse (WWC)

Practice Guides DWW Website

Who Develops Practice Guides?

• Recommendations for addressing current challenges in education

• Practice guides include: - Concrete how-to steps - Ratings of strength of evidence - Solutions for common

roadblocks

What are Practice Guides?

Current Practice Guides• Response to Intervention (RtI) for Reading – Elementary Schools

• Response to Intervention for Math – Elementary/Middle Schools

• Reducing Behavior Problems in Elementary School Classrooms

• Literacy Instruction for English Language Learners

• Encouraging Girls in Math and Science

• Improving Adolescent Literacy

• Organizing Instruction and Study to Improve Student Learning

• Turning Around Chronically Low-Performing Schools

• Using Student Achievement Data for Instructional Decision Making

• Dropout Prevention

• Helping Students Navigate the Path to College

• Structuring Out-of-School Time to Improve Academic Achievement

How Practice Guides Are Developed

Expert Panel - Researchers - Practitioners

Recommendations

Peer Review

Research

Broad Search

Assess Quality

Identify Examples

WW

C

Broad Literature Search

Screened Out

Other Studies

Consulted

Effectiveness Studies (WWC

Review)

Initial Search

After Screening

Effectiveness Studies

Met Standards

RTI-Math 801 350 115 40

Data Driven Decisions

2,853 495 64 24

Out of School Time

3,972 1,170 88 29

Levels of Evidence

• Strong: High confidence(multiple rigorous studies in a variety of contexts)

• Moderate: Some evidence(may not work in all settings)

• Low: Hasn’t been proven with rigorous research (but panel still thinks it is important)

Components of a Practice Guide

• Introduction – goals and scope of the guide

• Overview – explanation of the topic and summary of levels of evidence

• Checklist for carrying out the recommendations

• Recommendations (separate chapter for each one)

o Brief explanation of recommendationo Level of evidence and discussion of the researcho Specific how-to steps

• Roadblocks and Solutions -- potential obstacles to carrying out the recommendation and suggestions for how to overcome them

• Appendices

o About the authorso More in-depth descriptions of key studieso References

http://whatworks.ed.gov