The Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse seeks to be a comprehensive resource that a range of audiences, including state and local TANF administrators, can use to identify the services that will best help people with low incomes succeed in the labor market. Pathways to Work carries out a systematic process to identify, review, and rate the quality of eligible studies of programs and policies that have the primary aim of improving the employment and earnings of people with low incomes.
The Protocol for the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse: Methods and Standards Report, Version 2.0 (Protocol Version 2.0) provides a detailed description of the standards currently used to identify, review, and rate the quality of eligible studies and the procedures followed by Pathways to Work staff.
The Protocol Version 2.0 revised the prior protocol and added new standards for including and rating the quality of program cost studies. Key revisions included:
- Updating the literature search protocol to ensure comprehensiveness (Chapter 2)
- Allowing a requirement for earnings to be measured at least one year prior to the start of the intervention to be waived under certain conditions (Chapter 3)
- Allowing baseline equivalence to be demonstrated based on the effect size of the baseline difference if the baseline difference is statistically significant (Chapter 3)
- Updating the program effectiveness rating categories, including revisions to the “insufficient evidence to assess support” and “not supported” categories (Chapter 4)
- New standards for including and rating the quality of program cost studies, covering cost analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, and cost-benefit studies. (Chapter 5)
Citation
Brown, Scott, Allan Porowski, Daniel Swan, Jesse Levin, and Amanda Danks (2025). Protocol for the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse: Methods and Standards, Version 2.0. OPRE Report # 2025-150, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
