Review Protocols
What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) reviews in this topic area focus on dropout prevention interventions designed for use in secondary school (middle school, junior high school, and high school) or community-based settings to help students stay in school, progress in school, and/or complete school.
Systematic reviews of evidence in this topic area address the following questions:
- Which dropout prevention programs are effective in keeping students in school or getting them to return to school?
- Which dropout prevention programs are effective in helping youth progress in school?
- Which dropout prevention programs are effective in helping youth complete high school by earning a diploma or a GED certificate?
Prior versions available for download.
Table of Contents
- Overview
- Eligibility Criteria and Evidence Standards
- Literature Search Methodology
Protocol Details
- Version: 3.0
- Released: March 2014
- Version: 2.0
- Released: April 2009
- Version: 1.0
- Released: September 2006
What is a Protocol?
Starting in January 2021, the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) uses the Study Review Protocol in combination with the Procedures and Standards Handbook to guide reviews of all studies. In particular, the Study Review Protocol provides additional information on eligible outcome domains for all topic areas reviewed by the WWC and provides examples of outcome measures that fall within each domain.
When conducting systematic reviews, the WWC uses the Study Review Protocol to review studies and an accompanying topic area synthesis protocol to define the parameters of the systematic review. The synthesis protocol provides criteria for the literature search; guidance on how to identify and prioritize relevant studies for review and inclusion in evidence synthesis products; and guidance on intervention, sample, and outcome eligibility criteria for the synthesis.
Prior to 2021, studies were typically reviewed using a topic-specific synthesis protocol and the corresponding version of the Procedures and Standards Handbook. In addition to defining the parameters for the review, these protocols described any topic-specific applications of the design standards, such as how to establish baseline equivalence between samples when required.