What Works Lab
The Progressive Policy Institute’s What Works Lab (WWL) gathers evidence on the effectiveness of programs that create education and training career pathways to jobs and opportunities for students and workers. This information helps policymakers, practitioners, employers, and other stakeholders foster continuous learning and enhance the effectiveness of career pathways programs. WWL collaborates with other PPI initiatives, including the New Skills for a New Economy Project, the Reinventing America’s School Project, and the American Identity Project.
PPI’s What Works Lab (WWL) Library gathers this information and makes it accessible through an online content library. It includes research studies, case studies, white papers, podcasts, webinars, and policy briefs.
The Four Levels of What Works
The WWL utilizes the four levels of evidence for “what works” that are used by multiple federal agencies and other research groups as criteria for guiding what is included in its curated collection. The U.S. Department of Education summarizes these four levels in non-regulatory guidance, updated and published in 2023. The evidence categories for this four-tiered framework include strong evidence, moderate evidence, promising evidence, and demonstrate a rationale.