---
title: "Evidence-based education"
chunk: 5/5
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence-based_education"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:25:34.880785+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

outcome domain (e.g. alphabetics, oral language, general mathematics achievement, etc.)
effectiveness rating (e.g. positive, potentially positive, mixed, etc.)
number of studies meeting WWC standards
grades examined (e.g. K-4)
number of students in studies that met the WWC standards, and
improvement index (i.e. the expected change in percentile rank).
It is also possible to view the program's Evidence snapshot, detailed Intervention report and Review protocols. For other independent "related reviews", go to the evidence snapshot then the WWC Summary of Evidence.

The following chart, updated in July 2020, shows some programs that had "strong evidence" of a "positive effect on outcomes" in the areas specified. The results may have changed since that time, however current information is available on the WWC website, including the outcome domains that did not have "strong evidence".Some of the concerns expressed about WWC are that it appears to have difficulty keeping up with the research so it may not be current; and when a program is not listed on their database, it may be that it did not meet their criteria or they have not yet reviewed it, but you don't know which. In addition Straight Talk on Evidence, authored by the Arnold Ventures LLC' Evidence-Based Policy team, on January 16, 2018, expressed concerns about the validity of the ratings provided by WWC. It says WWC in some cases reported a "preliminary outcome when high-quality RCTs found no significant effects on more important and final educational outcomes".
A summary of the January 2020 changes to the WWC procedures and standards is available on their site.

=== Other sources of information ===
The British Educational Research Association (BERA) claims to be the home of educational research in the United Kingdom. It is a membership association that aims to improve the knowledge of education by advancing research quality, capacity and engagement. Its resources include a quarterly magazine, journals, articles, and conferences.
Campbell Collaboration is a nonprofit organization that promotes evidence-based decisions and policy through the production of systematic reviews and other types of evidence synthesis. It has wide spread international support, and allows users to easily search by topic area (e.g. education) or key word (e.g. reading).
Doing What Works is provided by WestEd, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization, and offers an online library that includes interviews with researchers and educators, in addition to materials and tools for educators. WestEd was criticized in January 2020, claiming they did not interview all interested parties prior to releasing a report.
Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (ECTA), of Chapel Hill, NC, provides resources on evidence-based practices in areas specific to early childhood care and education, professional development, early intervention and early childhood special education.
Florida Center for Reading Research is a research center at Florida State University that explores all aspects of reading research. Its Resource Database allows you to search for information based on a variety of criteria.
Institute of Education Sciences (IES), Washington, DC, is the statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education. It funds independent education research, evaluation and statistics. It published a Synthesis of its Research on Early Intervention and Early Childhood Education in 2013. Its publications and products can be searched by author, subject, etc.
The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) is a registered non-governmental organisation, since 2008, with offices in New Delhi, London and Washington, DC. Its self-described vision is to improve lives through evidence-informed action in developing countries. In 2016 their researchers synthesised evidence from 238 impact evaluations and 121 qualitative research studies and process evaluations in 52 low-and middle-income countries (L&MICs). It looked at children's school enrolment, attendance, completion and learning.The results can be viewed in their report entitled The impact of education programmes on learning and school participation in low- and middle-income countries.
National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) is a non-profit research and development organization based in Berkshire, England. It produces independent research and reports about issues across the education system, such as Using Evidence in the Classroom: What Works and Why.
Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), in England, conducts research on schools, early education, social care, further education and skills.
The Ministry of Education, Ontario, Canada offers a site entitled What Works? Research Into Practice. It is a collection of research summaries of promising teaching practice written by experts at Ontario universities.
RAND Corporation, with offices throughout the world, funds research on early childhood, K-12, and higher education.
ResearchED, a U.K. based non-profit since 2013 has organized education conferences around the world (e.g. Africa, Australia, Asia, Canada, the E.U., the Middle East, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S.) featuring researchers and educators in order to "promote collaboration between research-users and research-creators". It has been described as a "grass-roots teacher-led project that aims to make teachers research-literate and pseudo-science proof". It also publishes an online magazine featuring articles by practicing teachers and others such as professor Daniel T. Willingham (University of Virginia) and Professor Dylan Wiliam (Emeritus professor, UCL Institute of Education). And finally, it offers frequent, free online video presentations on subjects such as curriculum design, simplifying your practice, unleashing teachers' expertise, the bridge over the reading gap, education post-corona, remote teaching, teaching critical thinking, etc. The free presentations are also available on its YouTube channel. ResearchED has been featured in online debates about so called "teacher populism".
Research 4 Schools, University of Delaware is supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education and  offers peer-reviewed research about education.

== See also ==
Educational research
Educational psychology
Evidence-based legislation
Evidence-based policy
Science of reading

== References ==

== External links ==
The Evidence Based Teachers Network (EBTN)
Institute for Effective Education (IEE)
researchED.org.uk
Evidence based interventions, McGill University, Canada
Evidence based practice, The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), A.S.A Archived 2020-07-02 at the Wayback Machine
Evidence based education, UK