The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) seeks to provide practitioners information about "what works in education." One challenge in understanding "what works" is that effect sizes may not be comparable across studies, which limits the ability to compare the relative effectiveness of multiple interventions. One factor that…

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) is an initiative of the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES), which was established under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002. It is an important part of IES's strategy to use rigorous and relevant research, evaluation, and statistics to improve the nation's education system.…

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) systematic review process is the basis of many of its products, enabling the WWC to use consistent, objective, and transparent standards and procedures in its reviews, while also ensuring comprehensive coverage of the relevant literature. The WWC systematic review process consists of five steps: (1) Developing…

The study examined the impact of the Kalamazoo Promise Scholarship on high school students' academic and behavioral outcomes. Depending on how long the student had attended Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS), the scholarship would cover up to 100 percent of tuition and fees for attending any public college or university in the state of Michigan. The…

Developmental summer bridge programs are designed to reduce the need for developmental education in college by providing students with accelerated instruction in areas where additional knowledge and skills are needed to help them succeed in higher education. The WWC identified one study of developmental summer bridge programs that meets WWC…

For the 2013 study, "Evaluation of the i3 Scale-up of Reading Recovery Year One Report, 2011-12," researchers examined the Year 1 impacts of the Investing in Innovation (i3) scale-up of "Reading Recovery"®, a short-term intervention for struggling readers, on the reading achievement of first-grade students. The analytic sample…

The study, "The Impact of Indiana's System of Interim Assessments on Mathematics and Reading," examined the effects of using Diagnostic Assessment Tools (DAT) on mathematics and reading outcomes for students in 59 Indiana schools during the 2009-10 academic year. DAT consists of interim assessment tools--Wireless Generation's mCLASS for…

The study reviewed in this paper examined whether "Playworks," a program that utilizes full-time coaches to provide structured play opportunities during recess and class time, reduces the number of disciplinary referrals in low-income elementary schools. Study authors randomly assigned 25 schools in five US cities to either a…

This study examined whether attending a Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) middle school improved students' reading, math, social studies, and science achievement for up to 4 years following enrollment. The study reported that students attending KIPP middle schools scored statistically significantly higher than matched students on all of the state…

"Spelling Mastery" is designed to explicitly teach spelling skills to students in grades 1 through 6. One of several Direct Instruction curricula from McGraw-Hill that precisely specify how to teach incremental content, "Spelling Mastery" includes phonemic, morphemic, and whole-word strategies. The What Works Clearinghouse…

This study investigated the effect of daily quizzes on the performance of college students. Students in an introductory psychology course used their own wireless-enabled devices to take short Internet-based quizzes at the beginning of every class. The quiz items were drawn approximately equally from material covered in the readings and the…

"Charter School Performance in New Jersey" examined whether students in grades 3-8 attending charter schools in New Jersey made more gains in math and reading achievement than similar students attending traditional public schools. Based on an analysis across charter schools, the authors reported that charter school students made…

The study reviewed here examined the effect of charter schools on annual student achievement growth in reading and math in 25 states, the District of Columbia, and New York City. The study primarily used data on students in grades 3-8, but additional elementary and high school grades were included for several states. The authors reported that…

The study reviewed in this report examined the impact of the "Pathway Project" intervention on students who were mainstreamed Latino English language learners (ELLs). One hundred and three English teachers in 15 schools in California were recruited and randomly assigned to either the "Pathway Project" condition or a comparison…

For the 2014 study, "Closing the Social-Class Achievement Gap: A Difference-Education Intervention Improves First-Generation Students' Academic Performance and All Students' College Transition," researchers investigated the impact of attending a moderated panel on incoming freshmen's adjustment to college. The panel featured…