Nikola Filby

Senior Program Director, WestEd

During Filby's three decades in educational R&D, her work has consistently spanned the boundaries between research and practice. She has directed collaborative projects that bring educators together across organizational and state boundaries to learn with and from each other and support improvements in practice based on R&D. She has been a leader in interorganizational projects to develop R&D resources for educators across the nation.

Filby currently directs the Innovation Studies Program at WestEd, which aims to help educators learn about and implement promising ideas from research and practice. As director, she oversees the development of Innovation Guides, a major series of publications produced for the Office of Innovation and Improvement in the U.S. Department of Education, as well as web-based dissemination projects. She directs the Doing What Works initiative, in partnership with AIR and RMC, to produce a website that builds on research reviews by the Institute of Education Sciences to help educators not only understand but do what works. The Doing What Works website provides expert interviews, multimedia descriptions of schools using the research-based practices, and tools to support planning and implementation.

Beginning in 1996, Filby served as Associate Director of the Regional Educational Laboratory West at WestEd. She previously served as director of the Effective Instruction Program and the State Support Program, in all roles helping to bring relevant research to policymakers and educators in the four-state region. She received a BA in psychology from Wellesley College and a PhD in educational psychology and learning from Stanford University.

Primary Presenter for: Reducing School Dropout Rates
Turning Around Chronically Low-Performing Schools: Resources From Doing What Works
Doing What Works: Teaching Elementary-School English Learners
Creating Strong Supplemental Educational Services Programs
Understanding Scientifically Based Research