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Clearinghouses and Evidence Reviews for Social Benefit Programs
CNCS Evidence Exchange
March 2016
This document provides a listing and brief description of publicly accessible databases of research, evidence, and evaluations regarding social benefit programs and interventions. This document was developed by the CNCS Office of Research and Evaluation. This document should not be considered exhaustive or comprehensive.
Evidence Exchange
Clearinghouses and Evidence Reviews for Social Benefit Programs
How to Use This Guide
For CNCS grantees:
Use as a resource for identifying evidence-based programs and interventions that
grantees may want to replicate or learn from.
Use as a directory of other clearinghouses grantees can submit program evaluations to
for review and potential inclusion.
The “Opportunity” section outlines our view of the CNCS Focus Areas that seem most
relevant to the clearinghouse. Grantees running programs in those Focus Areas may
want to take special note. For others:
Use as a resource for researching and learning!
Federal Clearinghouses and Evidence Reviews for Social Benefit
Programs
What Works Clearinghouse (WWC)
Focus: Education for students ages 3 – grade 12
Agency: Department of Education (IES)
Description: “We review a wide range of education topics to determine if studies provide
credible and reliable evidence of the effectiveness of an intervention. Topics are defined by intended outcome (such as improved math skills), intended population (such as students with learning disabilities), and types of interventions (such as school choice) that may improve student outcomes.”
Opportunity: Youth Development and Education programs evaluations looking at interventions relevant to WWC focus.
Clearinghouse for Labor Evaluation and Research (CLEAR)
Focus: Employment and finances for individuals ages 14+
Agency: Department of Labor (OASP)
Description: “CLEAR reviews studies in a variety of labor-related topic areas that are
determined in collaboration with the Department of Labor (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office and DOL agency staff. Content matter experts for each topic area help develop the review protocols and determine which study types are included in the systematic review.”
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Opportunity: Youth Development, Education, and Economic Opportunity (SIF and AmeriCorps) program evaluations looking at interventions relevant to CLEAR focus
Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Evidence Review
Focus: Pregnancy and sexual health for ages 10-19
Agency: Department of Health and Human Services (OAH)
Description: “Since 2009, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has sponsored
an independent systematic review of the teen pregnancy prevention literature to identify programs with evidence of effectiveness in reducing teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and associated sexual risk behaviors.”
Opportunity: Youth Development and Healthy Futures program evaluations looking at interventions relevant to TPP focus
National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP)
Focus: Mental health and substance abuse for all ages
Agency: Department of Health and Human Services (SAMHSA)
Description: “NREPP is a searchable online registry of more than 330 substance abuse and
mental health interventions. NREPP was developed to help the public learn more
about evidence-based interventions that are available for implementation.”
Opportunity: Youth Development, Healthy Futures, Economic Opportunity program evaluations looking at interventions relevant to NREPP focus
Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness (HomVEE)
Focus: Home visiting programs for mothers pregnant through having children age 5
Agency: Department of Health and Human Services (AHRQ)
Description: “The Department of Health and Human Services launched the Home Visiting
Evidence of Effectiveness (HomVEE) review to conduct a thorough and transparent review of the home visiting research literature and provide an assessment of the evidence of effectiveness for home visiting program models that target families with pregnant women and children from birth to age 5.”
Opportunity: Youth Development and Healthy Futures program evaluations looking at interventions relevant to HomVEE focus
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Evidence Exchange
Clearinghouses and Evidence Reviews for Social Benefit Programs
The Community Guide
Focus: Community health and disease prevention programs for all ages Agency: Department of Health and Human Services
Description: “The Community Guide conducts systematic reviews of interventions in many
topic areas to learn what works to promote public health. The Community Preventive Services Task Force uses the results of these reviews to issue evidence- based recommendations and findings to the public health community.”
Opportunity: Youth Development and Healthy Futures program evaluations looking at interventions relevant to Guide focus
CrimeSolutions
Focus: Crime and justice programs and practices for all ages
Agency: Department of Justice (NIJ)
Description: “The Office of Justice Programs’ CrimeSolutions.gov uses rigorous research to
determine what works in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and crime victim services. In addition to continuing to capture ongoing reviews of justice programs, CrimeSolutions.gov now also presents reviews of justice practices.”
Opportunity: Any program evaluations looking at interventions relevant to Solutions focus
Youth.gov
Focus: Delinquency and problem behavior programs for young people Agency: Government-wide
Description: “The youth.gov Program Directory features evidence-based programs whose
purpose is to prevent and/or reduce delinquency or other problem behaviors in young people. Two sets of programs are included: The Teen Pregnancy Prevention program directory, and The Substance Abuse, Violence, and Other Risk Behavior program directory.”
Opportunity: Youth Development in particular and almost any other program evaluations looking at interventions relevant to FYI focus
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Evidence Exchange
Clearinghouses and Evidence Reviews for Social Benefit Programs
Academic/Nonprofit Clearinghouses and Evidence Reviews for Social Benefit Programs
What Works in Reentry Clearinghouse
Focus: Relevant outcomes (e.g., recidivism, substance use, housing, employment, or mental health) for people returning to the community from incarceration
Agency: National Reentry Resource Center (Council of State Governments Justice Center and the Urban Institute)
Description: “The What Works in Reentry Clearinghouse is a “one-stop shop” for research on the effectiveness of a wide variety of reentry programs and practices. It was developed for the National Reentry Resource Center with funding provided by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance through the Second Chance Act.”
Opportunity: Youth Development, Healthy Futures, Economic Opportunity program evaluations looking at interventions relevant to WWRC’s focus
Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development
Focus: Health and drug prevention for children and youth
Agency: University of Colorado Boulder (Center for the Study and Prevention of
Violence)
Description: “Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development provides a registry of evidence- based positive youth development programs designed to promote the health and well-being of children and teens. Blueprints programs are family, school, and community-based and target all levels of need — from broad prevention programs that promote positive behaviors while decreasing negative behaviors, to highly-targeted programs for at-risk children and troubled teens that get them back on track.”
Opportunity: Youth Development, Education, Healthy Futures, Economic Opportunity program evaluations looking at interventions relevant to Blueprints’ focus
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Clearinghouses and Evidence Reviews for Social Benefit Programs
Top Tier Evidence and Social Programs That Work
Focus: Full spectrum of social programs for all ages
Agency: Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy1
Description: “Our site covers the full spectrum of social policy (K-12 education, crime
prevention, international development assistance, etc.), focusing on the relatively few interventions across these areas meeting the strong evidence criteria described.”
Opportunity: Any program evaluations looking at interventions relevant to Coalition’s focus
Campbell Systematic Reviews
Focus: Social, behavioral, and educational programs for all ages
Agency: The International Campbell Collaboration
Description: “Campbell Systematic Reviews is the peer-reviewed online monograph series of
systematic reviews prepared under the editorial control of the Campbell Collaboration. Campbell systematic reviews follow structured guidelines and standards for summarizing the international research evidence on the effects of interventions in crime and justice, education, international development, and social welfare.”
Opportunity: Almost any program evaluations looking at interventions relevant to Collaboration’s focus
Best Evidence Encyclopedia
Focus: Education for students grades K-12
Agency: Johns Hopkins University School of Education (Center for Data-Driven
Reform in Education)
Description: “The Best Evidence Encyclopedia is a free web site created by the Johns Hopkins University School of Education's Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education (CDDRE) under funding from the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. It is intended to give educators and researchers fair and useful information about the strength of the evidence supporting a variety of programs available for students in grades K-12.”
1 Sponsorship of these sites is being transitioned from the Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy to the Laura and John Arnold Foundation (LJAF).
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Opportunity: Youth Development and Education program evaluations looking at interventions relevant to BEE focus
What Works/Lifecourse Interventions to Nurture Kids Successfully (LINKS)
Focus: Social, behavioral, health and educational programs for ages 0-24 Agency: Child Trends
Description: “Child Trends’ What Works/LINKS database is a searchable register of over 650
programs that have had at least one randomized, intent-to-treat evaluation to assess child or youth outcomes related to education, life skills, and social/emotional, mental, physical, behavioral, or reproductive health. Program eligibility was not dependent on whether significant program impacts were found.”
Opportunity: Youth Development in particular and almost any program evaluations looking at interventions relevant to LINKS focus
Out-of-School Time Program Database
Focus: Out-of-school time programs for children and youth
Agency: Harvard Graduate School of Education (Harvard Family Research
Project)
Description: “Our database of out-of-school time research and evaluation profiles provides information, in an accessible way, about research and evaluation work of both large and small out-of-school time programs and initiatives. Each profile contains an overview of the out-of-school time program or initiative that was evaluated (or an overview of the research study), as well as detailed information about each report produced about that program.”
Opportunity: Youth Development in particular and almost any other program evaluations looking at interventions relevant to OST focus
California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse (CEBC) for Child Welfare
Focus: Health and wellbeing programs for children and families involved with the child welfare system
Agency: California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse (CEBC)
Description: “The mission of the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare
(CEBC) is to advance the effective implementation of evidence-based practices for children and families involved with the child welfare system. The primary goal of
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this website is to provide a searchable database of programs that can be utilized by professionals that serve children and families involved with the child welfare system.”
Opportunity: Youth Development and Healthy Futures program evaluations looking at interventions relevant to Guide focus
Examples of registries and databases that may or may not include evidence review
Results First Clearinghouse Database from Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative
“This one-stop online resource provides policymakers with an easy way to find information on the effectiveness of various interventions as rated by eight national research clearinghouses. The clearinghouses conduct literature reviews and rate interventions in a range of policy areas based on rigorous evaluation, including adult criminal justice, juvenile justice, mental health, substance abuse, early education, K-12 education, and child welfare. The database is not intended, however, to serve as a comprehensive list of all interventions that are worthy of funding.”
Partnerships to Promote Evidence-Based Practice from Social Work Policy Institute
The Social Work policy Institute is a think tank established within the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Foundation, which examines issues that relate to the work of social workers, including how to serve people who have multiple or complex needs and how public agencies and other structures deliver health and human services.
“The Evidence-Based Practice Resources section provides tools that can be used to identify Evidence-Based Practices (EBP), online resources that can inform the EBP process and a list of publications for further information. The Partnership Examples section highlights some existing partnerships created between researchers and practitioners that further EBP.”
WSIPP Reports from Washington State Institute for Public Policy
Topics of reports included are: benefit-cost analysis; child welfare; criminal justice; education; employment/welfare; evidence-based programs; general government; health care; inventories; mental health; prevention; state economy; substance abuse; and transportation.
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Evidence Exchange
Clearinghouses and Evidence Reviews for Social Benefit Programs
“WSIPP’s mission is to carry out practical, non-partisan research at the direction of the legislature or Board of Directors. WSIPP works closely with legislators, legislative and state agency staff, and experts in the field to ensure that studies answer relevant policy questions.”
What Works Marketplace from The Bridgespan Group, Results for America, and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
This report is part of Results for America’s “Invest in What Works Policy Series,” which provides ideas and supporting research to policy makers to drive public funds toward evidence-based, results-driven solutions. The series includes policy reports, expert roundtable discussions, and public events.” Appendix 3 of the report, “Landscape of clearinghouses”, provides a list of US-focused and International clearinghouses.
“To better understand what it takes for leaders to use evidence in making critical decisions, Results for America, in consultation with The Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative (Results First), commissioned The Bridgespan Group to study this “market” for evidence on effectiveness—specifically, what is the current state of the market? What can be done to strengthen it? And who must lead it?”
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