In 2011, Education Northwest partnered with Columbia Gorge Education Service District to support school improvement efforts in North Wasco County, Oregon, through use of a Doing What Works (DWW) implementation award. The project focused on increasing five schools’ use of data-driven cycles of inquiry to achieve instructional “quick wins” and emphasized implementation of recommendations from two IES practice guides: Using Student Achievement Data to Support Instructional Decision Making and Turning Around Chronically Low-Performing Schools. Education Northwest has found incorporating DWW resources into these technical assistance efforts extremely valuable, especially in: (1) helping schools and districts develop a common language for key dimensions of the "how" of school improvement; and (2) expanding staff’s understanding of and access to the "what" of school improvement. DWW makes a great contribution to filling the research-to-practice gap in education. The DWW implementation awards provide a tremendous opportunity to not only heighten the field’s awareness of this much-needed resource, but enhance our understanding of what it takes for evidence-based practices and implementation guidance to actually change practice.

The Urban Community Teacher Education program within the School of Education & Human Development at the University of Colorado Denver has been involved in extensive revision and improvement of our merged general and special education teacher preparation programs. Our implementation project was strategically designed to support faculty in integrating evidence-based educational resources into core course curriculum and providing sustainable state-of-the-art professional development for university faculty and partner school personnel. A team of four instructors integrated DWW materials into the course, Data-driven decision-making for learners with diverse needs. We produced 14 graphic organizers to accompany selected DWW content and used them in a teacher preparation course and for professional development support for staff across our professional development school network. Additionally, the DWW resources will be available to partner school faculty and administrators via the edWeb platform. Requirements to use DWW resources are now infused into a systems-change project as part of our Advanced Seminar in Special Education, the capstone course for special education masters-level students.

The Instructional Innovations Unit at the Montana Office of Public Instruction created comprehensive Professional Development modules infused with DWW resources that are accessible on our website. These modules include a slideshow presentation, presenter’s notes, participant notes, participant handouts, and media clips. These modules can be adapted for use during staff meetings and professional development workshops and are a critical component of our Comprehensive Striving Readers Grant and School Improvement. Our consultants will be trained in these modules as will each school team. Educators across the state will access these resources at our annual Montana Instructional Institute. This grant also has greatly increased our knowledge and capacity at the state level. We will continue to create modules and resources based on the high-quality, research-based resources found on DWW.

NAESP used the DWW implementation grant to assist principals by making explicit connections between the DWW content and best practices for grades pre-K – 8 principals. We evaluated and adapted the content provided in DWW for principals and provided it to tens of thousands of elementary and middle-level principals, teacher teams, and other key instructional professionals in school buildings. We disseminated DWW resources through the our National Mentoring Certification Program and the award winning Principal magazine. We also developed white papers for NAESP’s website with excerpts of select DWW online resources and featured DWW in our online community for principals. Because the DWW resources are research-based yet practically focused, they provide principals with independent, robust, and reliable practices to strengthen their instructional leadership, support teaching and learning, and positively influence the long-term impact of school improvement. NAESP plans to partner with DWW to continue to make these resources available to its members and to the profession as a whole.