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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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Stepping Up to Algebra (Santa Clara)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens, Urban

Goal: The program is designed to teach students the skills and knowledge required to complete Algebra I by the end of the eighth grade.

Strengthening Families Program (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goals of this program are to improve parenting skills and children’s behaviors and decrease conduct disorders; to improve children’s social competencies; and to improve family attachment, harmony, communication, and organization.

Stroke Family Support Organizer (Nottinghamshire, UK)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of the Stroke Family Support Organizer program is to provide stroke patients and caregivers with information about supportive services.

Strong Seniors (Reno, KS)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of the program is to promote health and prevent injury among seniors through a series of community-based strength training classes.

Student Talking About Non-violent Dating (STAND) (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Domestic Violence & Abuse, Teens, Urban

Goal: The goal of the program is to provide education, support, and training to middle and high school students in San Francisco on how to address sexual violence.

Summer Bridge (Marin)

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

Goal: The program's goal is to help four- and five-year old children become better prepared for kindergarten.

Support Healthy Active Kids in Education (SHAKE) (Sonoma, CA)

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

Goal: The goal of the SHAKE program is to use elementary school-based programming to promote childhood health and fitness.

Supporting Adolescents with Guidance and Employment (SAGE) (Durham County, NC)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment, Children, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The purpose of the first component, ROP, is to develop a strong sense of African-American cultural pride and ethnic identity in the participants and instill a sense of responsibility in their community, their peers, and themselves. The second component, the JTP experience, places youths in summer jobs at desirable work sites such as dentist offices, local museums, and recreational centers. The third component, JA, teaches how to develop and implement a small business.

Sustainable Design Research Studio (Washington, DC)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants

Goal: The goal of this project is to identify environmentally preferable building materials and products, to specify them in HOK's own projects, and to guide others in the profession in doing the same.

Syracuse Healthy Start (Onondaga County, NY)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Women

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide prenatal care services to incarcerated pregnant women.

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.