Most Popular

Coalition Evidence Reviews

• Social Programs that Work – What works in social policy? This website summarizes the results of well-conducted randomized controlled trials that have identified effective social interventions.

 

Published Papers/Op-Eds

• A Brief History of Evidence-Based Policy, by Jon Baron, The ANNALS of  the American Academy of Political and Social Science, June 2018

• Applying Evidence to Social Programs, by Jon Baron, New York Times – November 2012

• What Constitutes Strong Evidence of Program Effectiveness?, by Jon Baron, Education Week – October 2012 (.pdf, 3 pages)

• Congress Should Use Cost-Effectiveness to Guide Social Spending, by Jon Baron and Ron Haskins, Brookings Institution – November 2011 (.pdf, 2 pages)

• Reduce the Budget Deficit Through Innovation, by Jon Baron and Ron Haskins, The Hill – November 2011 (.pdf, 2 pages)

• Building the Connection between Policy and Evidence: The Obama Evidence-Based Initiatives, by Ron Haskins and Jon Baron, paper commissioned by the U.K. National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) – Sept 2011 (.pdf, 19 pages)

• We Need a New Start for Head Start, by Isabel Sawhill and Jon Baron, Education Week– 2010 (.pdf, 3 pages)

 

Coalition Policy Papers

 

General Social Policy

• Proposed Social Spending Innovation Research (SSIR) Program: Harnessing American Entrepreneurial Talent to Solve Major U.S. Social Problems, February 2015 (.pdf, 3 pages + references)

• Proposal to Incorporate Evidence-Based Reforms into Major Federal Entitlement Programs, Addendum to testimony by Jon Baron before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources, April 2014 (.pdf, 3 pages)

• Demonstrating How Low-Cost Randomized Controlled Trials Can Drive Effective Social Spending: Project Overview and Request for Proposals, December 2013 (.pdf, 6 pages + references)

• Federal “Waivers” from Law and Regulation Should Be Used To Build Rigorous Evidence About How To Reduce Entitlement Spending, October 2013 (.pdf, 3 pages)

• A Different Way Forward in the War on Poverty, Based on Credible Evidence About “What Works”, Testimony by Jon Baron before the House Budget Committee, July 2013 (.pdf, 5 pages + references)

• Increasing the Effectiveness of Social Spending While Reducing Its Cost: An Evidence-Based Approach, Testimony by Jon Baron before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources, July 2013 (.pdf, 6 pages + references)

• OMB/CBO Budget Scoring Guidance May Create an Important New Incentive for Development and Expansion of Evidence-Based Programs, December 2011 (.pdf, 5 pages)

 

Early Childhood

• In Support of the Reauthorization of HHS’s Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, With Recommendations for Improvement, Testimony by Jon Baron before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources, April 2014 (.pdf, 5 pages + addendum)

• HHS’s Home Visiting Program: Which Program Models Identified by HHS As “Evidence-Based” Are Most Likely To Produce Important Improvements in Lives of Children/Parents?, 2011 (.pdf, 8 pages + references)

 

Education

• Proposed Social Spending Innovation Research (SSIR) Program: Harnessing American Entrepreneurial Talent to Solve Major U.S. Social Problems, February 2015 (.pdf, 3 pages + references)

• Can Using Rigorous Evidence To Guide Federal Education Funds Improve Student Achievement? Randomized Trials Show Encouraging Initial Results for DoED’s Investing in Innovation Fund, January 2014 (.pdf, 2 pages + references)

• Randomized Controlled Trials Commissioned by the Institute of Education Sciences Since 2002: How Many Found Positive Versus Weak or No Effects, July 2013 (.pdf, 1 page + references)

• Comments on the U.S. Department of Education’s proposal to advance the development and use of rigorous evidence in its grantmaking regulations, submitted by the Coalition and Results for America, 2013 (.pdf, 2 pages + references)

• National Board for Education Sciences (NBES) resolution urging Congress, in education legislation, to advance the use of credible evidence of effectiveness in decision-making, March 2011 (.pdf, 1 page + background).  The resolution is an NBES, rather than a Coalition, document (Coalition president Jon Baron chaired NBES in 2011).

 

Health Care

• Reduce the Explosive Growth in U.S. Health Care Costs through Rigorous Evidence About “What Works”, June 2011 (.pdf, 2 pages)

 

Teen Pregnancy Prevention

• HHS’s Evidence-Based Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program: Excellent First Step, But Only 2 of 28 Approved Models Have Strong Evidence of Effectiveness, 2010 (.pdf, 2 pages)

 

Welfare and Employment

• Importance of Congressional Funding for Welfare Research, 2014 (.pdf, 2 pages)

 

External Assessments of the Coalition’s Work

• Review of the Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy – March 2011 (.pdf, 5 pages)

 

User-Friendly Guides to Research/Evaluation

• Key Items to Get Right When Conducting Randomized Controlled Trials of Social Programs, Arnold Ventures' Evidence-Based Policy Team, February 2016 (.pdf, 9 pages)

• Hierarchy of Evidence of Program Effectiveness, January 2015 (.pdf, 1 page)

• Which Study Designs Are Capable of Producing Valid Evidence About A Program’s Effectiveness? A Brief Overview – October 2014 (.pdf, 4 pages)

• Which Comparison-Group (“Quasi-Experimental”) Study Designs are Most Likely to Produce Valid Estimates of a Program’s Impact?: A Brief Overview and Sample Review Form, updated 2018 (.pdf, 3 pages + appendix)

• Practical Evaluation Strategies for Building a Body of Proven-Effective Social Programs: Suggestions for Research and Program Funders, 2013 (.pdf, 6 pages)

• Increasing the Success of Evaluation Studies in Building a Body of Effective, Evidence-Based Programs: Recommendations of a Peer-Review Panel, prepared for the Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 2013 (.pdf, 7 pages)

• Which Nonprofit Organizations Are Effectively Delivering Evidence-Based Social Programs, With Close Adherence to the Program Model? An Exploratory Study, 2013 (.pdf, 4 pages)

• Rigorous Program Evaluations on a Budget: How Low-Cost Randomized Controlled Trials Are Possible in Many Areas of Social Policy, 2012 (.pdf, 6 pages)

• Checklist For Reviewing a Randomized Controlled Trial of a Social Program or Project, To Assess Whether It Produced Valid Evidence, 2010 (.pdf, 6 pages + cover)