The U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences today announced seven initial Evidence Report topics for the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC). The topics were chosen to meet the needs of educators and education decision makers to identify and implement effective and replicable approaches to improve important student outcomes.

"The current nationwide emphasis on ensuring that all students and schools achieve at high levels has increased the demand for sound evidence regarding 'what works' in education," said Grover "Russ" Whitehurst, director of the Institute of Education Sciences. "The high-quality scientific reviews from the What Works Clearinghouse will support informed local decision making and the effective implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001."

The seven topics chosen for systematic review in the first year of the WWC's operation reflect a wide range of our nation's most pressing education issues:

• Interventions for Beginning Reading -- Reading interventions for students in grades K-3 that are intended to increase phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, reading fluency, or reading comprehension, or any combination of these reading skills. There will be two Evidence Reports in this topic area, addressing curriculum-based and other types of beginning reading interventions. The first report will focus on interventions for students who are having difficulties developing beginning reading skills, while the second will review interventions designed for general beginning reading students.
• Curriculum-based Interventions for Increasing K-12 Math Achievement -- Interventions based on a curriculum, which contain learning goals that spell out the mathematics that students should know and be able to do, instructional programs and materials that organize the mathematical content, and assessments. There will be three Evidence Reports in this topic area. The first will focus on middle school mathematics programs, the second will focus on elementary school, and the third on high school.
• Preventing High School Dropout -- Interventions in middle school, junior high school, or high school designed to increase high school completion including such techniques as the use of incentives, counseling, or monitoring as the prevention/intervention of choice.
• Programs for Increasing Adult Literacy -- Programs that focus on literacy and language skills needed to function effectively in everyday life which serve adult non-native speakers of English and adults who are proficient in spoken English but who lack basic literacy skills.
• Peer-Assisted Learning in Elementary Schools: Reading, Mathematics, and Science Gains -- Interventions designed to improve an elementary school academic outcome such as reading, math, or science, that routinely use students to teach one another in pairs or in small groups.
• Interventions to Reduce Delinquent, Disorderly, and Violent Behavior in and out of School -- Programs for preventing or reducing disruptive, illegal, or violent behavior among middle and high school students. Programs may be administered in a mainstream setting, such as schools, or in an alternative setting, and may provide individual or group-based treatment.
• Interventions for Elementary English Language Learners: Increasing English Language Acquisition and Academic Achievement -- Interventions designed to improve the English language literacy and/or academic achievement of elementary school students who are English language learners.

Each WWC Evidence Report will examine the effects of replicable programs, practices, products, and policies that are designed to improve student outcomes within a topic area. For example, an Evidence Report on interventions for beginning reading would be expected to describe the evidence of effects of various beginning reading curricula and instructional practices.

The review process for WWC Evidence Reports will be thorough, scientific, and objective. The studies reviewed for each topic will be determined by an exhaustive search of published and unpublished research literature, including submissions from program and product developers. A work plan will be developed and a trained Evidence Report team will conduct the systematic reviews, using the WWC standards of evidence protocol tailored to the specific review topic. The resulting Evidence Reports will be reviewed by a Technical Advisory Group and peer reviewers, and the final reports will be posted online. The first WWC Evidence Reports are expected to be released in Fall 2003. (schedule attached)

The WWC is currently accepting nominations of specific programs, practices, products, policies and studies to be reviewed within each of the seven topic areas identified for the first year, and is continuously seeking nominations for future topic areas. Please send suggestions to wwcinfo@w-w-c.org or see the topic section of the WWC website: w-w-c.org.

The WWC was established in 2002 by the U.S. Department of Education's IES to provide educators, policymakers and the public with a central, independent and trusted source of scientific evidence of what works in education.

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