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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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Providing Education by Bringing Learning Environments to Students (PEBBLES)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / School Environment, Children

Goal: This program uses technology and innovative design to help hospitalized children stay involved with their classrooms and other students.

Put Illinois To Work (Illinois)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Economic Climate, Adults

Goal: The program’s goal is to support disadvantaged workers and struggling businesses through the economic recovery process.

Quality Improvement Project to Improve the Immunization Rate in the Women, Infant, and Children Program (Reno County, KS)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children, Families, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to increase the immunization rate of WIC children.

Impact: The WIC immunization rate for 2 year olds increased from 33% in the 3rd quarter of 2011 to 83% in the 4th quarter of 2012. The no-show rate for WIC appointments decreased from 68% to 27.6%.

Raising A Reader (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Families, Urban

Goal: Raising A Reader's mission is to foster healthy brain development, encourage parent and child bonding through reading together and facilitate future school success by increasing reading skills.

Raising Readers (Maine)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Literacy, Children, Families

Goal: To foster a love of reading, improve literacy among babies and young children, and ultimately, improve the health and educational outcomes of Maine children.

REACH for Wellness (Fulton County, GA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve cardiovascular health among residents of the Atlanta Empowerment Zone (AEZ).

Reach Out (Chicago, IL)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Cancer, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of this program is to encourage low-income African American and Hispanic women to seek early breast and cervical cancer screening.

Reach Out and Read: Palm Beach (Palm Beach)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Literacy, Children, Families, Urban

Goal: The mission of Reach Out and Read is to help prepare young children to succeed in school, by partnering with physicians to encourage parents and children to read aloud together.

Reaching Educators, Children, and Parents (RECAP) (Nashville, TN)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children

Goal: The primary goal of the program is to reduce the level of children's psychological problems, as well as preventing the development of more serious problems among children who are not referred for formal mental health services.

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.

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.