Innovation Investment Awards Evaluation
Basis is partnered with the Michigan Center for Adult College Success at TalentFirst (the Center) to evaluate the Innovation Investment Award (IIA) Program.
Why our Evaluation Matters
Our partnership collaboratively works with nine postsecondary institutions with a simple set of goals: to understand the implementation and impact of their funded projects, to support development of innovative solutions, and to reengage and graduate students over the age of 25.
Michigan’s initiative starts with the belief that every individual, no matter their age or background, should have access to higher education. By investing in educating, reskilling, and upskilling adults over the age of 25, Michigan is working to actualize their goal: increasing the number of working-age adults with a skill certificate or college degree to 60% by 2030 (Sixty by 30 Goal).
While the goal seems wildly aspirational, at Basis, we know goals are never too ambitious; just uninformed. And by informing our partners through research, evidence, and evaluation, Basis can turn ambition into success.
Statistics
Impact in Action
Funding with Intention:
In the fall of 2024, the Center awarded $6.4 million to the project.
Individual Partners, Individual Solutions:
The project spans across nine institutions: Basis has provided essential support in mapping out projects, determining implementation metrics, and maximizing impact–for each institution.
Flexible Solutions for Diverse Challenges
Implementation is messy, and measuring impact is even messier. Each institution is addressing adult college completion with their own approach, leading to a variety of unique initiatives for external evaluation. Where most would see a barrier to finding a universal solution, at Basis, we know solutions are never singular and challenges are often clever opportunities. This variety allows the research team to collaborate more closely with each institution, determining what to measure, how to collect data, and what the evaluation should look like. Each approach is individualized to a specific institution’s needs. With our virtual boots on the ground, we’re collaboratively getting to know and work with each grantee, digging into each project, creating a comprehensive understanding of each challenge and success. The work doesn’t stop there: our teams are providing technical assistance to measure impact, allowing the grantees to apply our strategies in sustainable, ongoing evaluation.