The Pathways Clearinghouse reports on the effects for study findings that are rated high or moderate quality in our four domains [earnings, employment, public benefit receipt, and education and training]. When the quality of a study is high, that means we can be fairly confident in the study findings because the study finding is solely attributable to the intervention examined. This rating is reserved for study findings from high quality RCTs with low attrition of sample members. The Pathways Clearinghouse also reports effects for moderate quality studies, where we can be somewhat confident in the study findings.

There are several reasons that some findings in a study may not be rated. Specifically:

• Studies may have outcomes that are rated low quality, where we cannot have much confidence in the study findings. Other important factors could have influenced the study findings, and the study did not account for them. The Pathways Clearinghouse does not report outcomes that are rated low quality.
• If the original study provides findings for multiple outcome measures in a given domain, the Pathways Clearinghouse prioritizes findings to review and report based on the outcome measure, following the prioritization process summarized in Exhibit III.2 of the Protocol for the Pathways to Work Clearinghouse: Methods and Standards. For example, if study authors used both surveys and administrative records to assess earnings, Pathways Clearinghouse reviewers select two sets of earnings findings for review: one measured using survey data and one measured using administrative data.

In addition, the Pathways Clearinghouse may not have sufficient information to report on the magnitude of study findings. We calculate an effect size using study-specific data, if we can obtain from the study authors the information needed to do so.