Evidence-based practice and social work education: A view from Washington

The growing focus on evidence-based practice (EBP) provides important opportunities for the social work profession to expand its research capacities as well as strategies for teaching students to use research. The use of evidence in developing policies and implementing innovative practices provides excellent opportunities for high-quality research and evaluation efforts, and an evidence-based perspective is applicable at the micro and macro levels. State and federal policies are incorporating the words evidence-based into their language, and there are expanding efforts to develop clearinghouses and resource sites to identify what works for whom under what conditions. This essay, responding in part to Corcoran and Thyer, provides a national perspective on the EBP movement in social work.