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The report identifies the interventions implemented by the 43 Workforce Innovation Fund (WIF) grantees, summarizes findings from the evaluation reports produced between 2015 and 2019, and provides observations regarding the evaluations themselves. Finally, it highlights lessons learned from the experiences with evaluations under WIF and discusses how these lessons might be applied in future initiatives involving grantee-led evaluations.

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Research Questions

• What types of interventions were tried in WIF projects?
• Which WIF projects (as per their evaluations) had the most promising results?
• Which ones seem worthy of further replication or testing at a more rigorous level of evaluation?
• What were the key challenges in implementing the interventions?
• What were common challenges in conducting the evaluations?
• What lessons does the WIF experience suggest for similar tiered-evidence, grantee-funded evaluations in the future?

Key Takeaways

• The WIF evaluations show positive to mixed effects across a range of outcomes, although study limitations affected the reliability of some of the results. Given the varied range of interventions implemented and the different expectations about what outcomes they were designed to improve, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions about specific intervention types.
• The WIF structure was observed to involve a number of stakeholders in a complex array of relationships, which presented challenges to both grantees and evaluators. The various entities involved with the WIF project each had different primary concerns and interests. Evaluators were most interested in the feasibility of the evaluation design, while the grantee was concerned with fulfilling the funder’s grant agreement requirements. Communication among stakeholders was described as a key component to maintain effective working relationships and evaluator independence. When findings are not positive or do not demonstrate the expected outcomes, the evaluator needs to ensure that the grantee fully understands those findings.
• Evaluators and grantees experienced challenges in evaluation execution, many of which are common in the evaluation field but some of which were unique to WIF. Observed challenges included lower than expected levels of program participation, barriers to accessing data, and challenges with survey administration and non-response. An evaluation execution challenge unique to WIF was the limited period of performance of the grant, and short follow up period to assess outcomes. Lastly, while WIF had the goal of comparing outcomes across grantees, it was not considered possible to collect comparable data across interventions due to a lack of a standard set of data measures required of all interventions.
• The WIF grantees also imparted specific strategies that can be used to address the challenges encountered. Recommendations include: defining roles clearly and increasing communication and accountability across stakeholders; developing clear, consistent standards and lines of authority to enforce standards; and building capacity within grantee/project staff to ensure evaluation goals and methods are understood.

Citation

Kean, E., Cook, R., De la Rosa, S. M., Williams, J. (2020). Abt Associates. The Workforce Innovation Fund (WIF): A Synthesis Report on Evaluation Findings and Experiences. Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor.

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This study was sponsored by the Employment and Training Administration, Office of Policy Development and Research, Division of Research and Evaluation, and was produced outside of CEO’s standard research development process.