September 19, 2019
Each year, school and district leaders across the country choose programs, strategies, practices, and policies to improve students’ learning. By choosing interventions that have been rigorously studied and shown to improve student learning, district and school leaders increase the likelihood that student achievement will improve. Although districts and schools have flexibility to choose interventions under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), and states’ definitions of the ESSA standards may differ, the law encourages school and district leaders to choose evidence-based interventions shown to improve student outcomes.
This video explains the four tiers of evidence, as outlined in ESSA, and how schools
and districts can use them to rate an intervention’s potential effectiveness on
improving student outcomes. To learn more about the ESSA tiers of evidence, check
out the accompanying handout [456 KB
] and visit the What Works Clearinghouse to find
reviews and ratings of existing research on programs, products, practices, and policies
in education.