Education research should reach educators in a form that is informative and readily usable. Translating research into practice is not a new challenge, but the explosion of online environments and access to multimedia technologies have opened new possibilities for addressing this longstanding challenge.

Enter Doing What Works (DWW), an online library of resources launched five years ago by WestEd.

DWW is “building a bridge between research and practice,” according to Nikola Filby.

Its strength, says Filby, lies in its “wealth of high-quality, practical tools that school leaders, service providers, and university faculty can use, particularly for planning and conducting their own professional learning.”

The DWW website provides access to resources in six broad areas: data-driven improvement, quality teaching, literacy, math and science, comprehensive support, and early childhood education.

The material is organized into 16 topics, and a three-part framework that invites educators to “Learn What Works,” “See How It Works,” and “Do What Works.”

Practice section helps educators “Do What Works” by providing downloadable PDF documents that describe practical ways to put the recommended practices into place and provide the actual tools to facilitate that process.