
The What Works Clearinghouse™ (WWC) is an initiative of the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences. The WWC evaluates research studies that look at the effectiveness of education programs, policies, practices, and products. The WWC regularly releases new products (such as videos, practice guide summaries, and special features pages) and wanted to obtain feedback on these new products and the WWC's dissemination strategies. Here we describe the feedback received from 2014 to 2016.*
ANALYSIS of WWC website statistics, IES and WWC social media outreach, and WWC Help Desk inquiries
CONVERSATIONS WITH USERS LIKE YOU!
- In-person focus groups with staff of three Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs) — REL West, REL Southeast, and REL Central
- Virtual focus groups with researchers and academics, teachers, school and district leadership personnel, and state administrators and parents
- Feedback via a pop-up survey on the WWC website

Note: Respondents were able to select all roles that applied to them. For this reason, totals sum to more than the total number of respondents.
In this section we briefly describe the product for which respondents provided feedback, summarize what we learned from respondents, and identify what we have changed to be responsive to the feedback.
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WEBSITE AND OTHER DISSEMINATION | ||
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What It Is | What We Learned | Improvements We Made | |
The website is the WWC’s primary method of communicating information about the effectiveness of education programs, policies, practices, and products. | The WWC is doing a better job attracting researchers and developers to the site than practitioners. |
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FIND WHAT WORKS | ||
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What It Is | What We Learned | Improvements We Made | |
Find What Works is a website search feature designed to summarize and compare the evidence of the effectiveness of interventions that have been reviewed by the WWC. | This feature effectively organizes a tremendous amount of information in a user-friendly format. |
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VIDEO: SELECTING MATH INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS | ||
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What It Is | What We Learned | Improvements We Made | |
A video—targeted for school and district leaders—on how to select a mathematics curriculum using materials on the WWC website. | The video does not fully engage its audience; users require follow-up materials to take next steps. |
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PRACTICE GUIDE SUMMARIES | ||
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What It Is | What We Learned | Improvements We Made | |
Practice guide summaries provide an overview of a practice guide's recommendations, action steps, and level of evidence. | The practice guide summaries are clear and easily accessible to an educator audience. |
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We are making changes!
Based on your ideas and suggestions, the WWC improved its website, products, and resources. Our redesigned website—launched in September 2016—is easier to use, with improved navigation and new ways to find what works in education. We’re continuing to make improvements, so keep an eye out for new products that clearly communicate the information you need in the format you want!
Stay in touch!
The WWC is always interested in learning about what you need to make evidence-based decisions in your classrooms, schools, and districts. Share your thoughts—and stay informed about new WWC products—through social media and the website using the links below.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatworksclearinghouse
Twitter: @WhatWorksED
► View our website redesign (Launched September 2016)
► Check out new and updated products
► Share your thoughts
*In-person focus groups were conducted May to September 2015; virtual focus groups were conducted February 2016; pop-up surveys were conducted January to April 2016; and analysis of usage data collected January 2014 to December 2015.