Ratings and definitions were based on research and multiple resources on evidence and effectiveness. The resources used to determine evidence and effectiveness are listed on the right-hand side of this page. The overall rating was created by first reviewing how these resources defined their rating scale or how they determined if a program met their specific standards.
The level of rigor required varied by resource, meaning some had more thorough or strict rating scales for level of evidence than others. Since resource scales differed, the overall rating definitions were created to summarize ratings across resources.
Next, interventions were reviewed within each resource and assigned a star rating based on the research evidence provided. If an intervention was listed on multiple sites, then an average of the ratings was used to create the overall star rating for that intervention.
Only interventions listed on EBP sites with research available for early childhood were included. It should be noted that not all interventions available are listed. This may be partly due to the expense and time required to conduct RCT studies in order to provide evidence of effectiveness.