U.S. Switches Contractors for ‘What Works’ Research Site

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded a $50.3 million contract to Mathematica Policy Research Inc. to operate its What Works Clearinghouse for the next five years and make it more nimble and relevant for practitioners and policymakers.

The Education Department’s decision shifts the project from the American Institutes of Research , the Washington-based research group that launched the clearinghouse and has run it for the past five years.

But Grover J. “Russ” Whitehurst, the director of the department’s Institute of Education Sciences, which oversees the clearinghouse, said the change of management, announced July 11 , does not reflect dissatisfaction with the job that...