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Promising Practices

The Promising Practices database informs professionals and community members about documented approaches to improving community health and quality of life.

The ultimate goal is to support the systematic adoption, implementation, and evaluation of successful programs, practices, and policy changes. The database provides carefully reviewed, documented, and ranked practices that range from good ideas to evidence-based practices.
Learn more about the ranking methodology.

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Project SOAR Mentoring Program for Youth (Galveston, AZ)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of Project SOAR is to promote academic success among youth at Galveston Elementary School.

Quantum Opportunity Program

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Teens

Goal: The program's main goal is to improve academic deficiencies. A secondary emphasis is to establish meaningful, long-term relationships between the participants and program Coordinators. Finally, the program encourages involvement and commitment to school and community.

Reading Education Assistance Dogs (R.E.A.D.)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Literacy, Children

Goal: The mission of the R.E.A.D. program is to improve children's literacy skills through the use of literacy mentors.

Reading Recovery

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Literacy, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to help children who are having difficulty learning to read and write.

Reciprocal Teaching

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve students' ability to read, understand, and analyze text.

Reconnecting Youth (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Teens

Goal: The Reconnecting Youth program has three main goals: 1) increase school performance; 2) decrease drug involvement; and 3) decrease suicide-risk behaviors.

Impact: Significant increases in positive connections with teachers, friends, and family members; significant improvements in GPA; lasting reductions in hard drug use; decreases in anger-control problems; reductions in depression and hopelessness; and increases in enhancing personal control were observed.

Responsive Classroom

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / School Environment, Children

Goal: The approach was developed with the goals of increasing student investment, responsibility, and learning and decreasing problem behaviors.

Ripple Effects Whole Spectrum Intervention System (Ripple Effects) (USA and Canada)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of Ripple Effects is to use technology to prevent social injury and promote school and life success for children and teenagers.

Rural Educational Achievement Project (Christian County, KY)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / School Environment, Children, Families, Rural

Goal: The goal of this program is to promote healthy mental and social development and academic success.

Salem County School-to-Careers Initiative (Salem County, NJ)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Educational Attainment, Children, Rural

Goal: The goal of this program is to help at-risk youth and young adults to finish high school, take college-level classes, and have structured work experiences that will lead to successful transitions to adulthood.

An Effective Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success and/or promise in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures of improvement in outcome of interest (i.e. increase in voter registration, not just delivery of voter registration drive) and/ or the outcome measure is increased or improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant.

A Good Idea meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program funding source, program implementation steps and outcomes.
  2. The program evaluation is limited to descriptive measure(s) of success/accomplishment (i.e., program participation rates, number of services/education sessions/radio messages provided). Note: oftentimes, the program has been newly implemented and a program evaluation has not yet been conducted. Programs that have not yet been evaluated, but which show promise in improving health or quality of life, are classified as Good Ideas until an evaluation is conducted.

An Evidence-Based Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures showing improvement in the outcome(s) of interest after the implementation of the program (i.e. increase in smoking cessation, not just the delivery of a smoking cessation program). The outcome measure(s) is/are compared at relevant time periods before and after the intervention or program implementation. Alternatively, the evaluation study compares the outcome(s) between an intervention group and an appropriate control group.
  3. The study is of peer-review quality and presents numbers in a scientific manner; measurements of precision and reliability are included (e.g. confidence intervals, standard errors), results from statistical tests show a significant difference or change in the outcome measure(s), and relevant point estimates and p-values are presented. Note: if the results from an evaluation of a program are presented in a scientific manner and the outcome measure is improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant, the practice is classified as effective and not evidence-based.