 In 2015, NISL was awarded a $12 million U.S. Department of Education Validation-level Investing in Innovation (i3) grant to study a large-scale implementation of its Executive Development Program (EDP).The study encompasses delivery across three states—California, Florida and Mississippi.The Validation-level i3 grants are highly competitive awards “aimed at validating and spreading promising programs on a state or regional scale.” NISL's proposal was selected on the basis of the initiative's significance—including its ability to address “a challenge for which there is a national need for solutions that are better than the solutions currently available”— its ability to scale, the quality of the project design and management plan, and the quality of the project evaluation.