Projects

Evaluating Adult Promise: How States Support Adult Learners in Postsecondary Education

2017 - 2021

Project Overview

Objective

To help Lumina Foundation and states participating in the Adult Promise initiative make ongoing implementation decisions and uncover lessons for future work to support adult learners in postsecondary education. 

Project Motivation

Lumina Foundation sought assistance from Mathematica to act as an implementation and outcomes evaluation partner for its state-based Adult Promise investments. Mathematica is conducting a multifaceted evaluation that provides timely formative feedback to Lumina about implementation, field-facing analyses of successful approaches and challenges across grantee states, and a summative analysis of student enrollment and completion outcomes.

Prepared For

Lumina Foundation

Lumina Foundation seeks to increase the proportion of Americans who hold a postsecondary credential across all racial, ethnic, immigration, and income groups to 60 percent by 2025.
Recognizing that this goal cannot be achieved through a focus on traditional-age college students alone, Lumina launched the Adult Promise initiative in 2017 and invested nearly $8 million in multiyear grants to a total of 15 states to address adult postsecondary attainment through recruitment, supports, and financial commitments. Beyond the general focus on adults, Adult Promise explicitly prioritized investments that support enrollment and attainment for adult learners of color. Mathematica has followed 12 states from the 2017 and 2018 grant waves throughout their grant periods to understand how the initiatives in each state improve outreach and support to adult learners in postsecondary education.

Related Staff

Julie Bruch

Julie Bruch

Principal Researcher

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Ann  Person

Ann Person

Principal Researcher

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Lisbeth Goble

Lisbeth Goble

Principal Survey Researcher

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Kara Conroy

Kara Conroy

Senior Researcher

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Veronica Severn

Veronica Severn

Survey Researcher

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