What is a Clearinghouse?

An evidence clearinghouse is a database of strategies – which may include programs, practices, interventions, activities, and more – that have been reviewed and found to meet a set of standards defining the quality of their evidence. The PA Evidence Resource Center (ERC) is an evidence clearinghouse.

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
• 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 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 (opens in a new tab) (Institute of Education Sciences)

• Social Programs That Work (opens in a new tab) (Arnold Ventures’ Evidence-Based Policy team)

• Blueprints Program (opens in a new tab) (Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development)

• SAMHSA Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center (opens in a new tab) (formerly NREPP: National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices)

• Crime Solutions (opens in a new tab) (National Institute of Justice)

The following resources contain topic-specific toolkits, research, and additional lists of programs and practices: