Math and Science Partnership Program

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program is a major research and development effort that supports innovative partnerships to improve K-12 student achievement in mathematics and science. MSP projects are expected to raise the achievement levels of all students and significantly reduce achievement gaps in the mathematics and science performance of diverse student populations.

On February 14-15, 2008 in Washington, DC, QEM is hosting an NSF-supported proposal workshop, for minority-serving institutions and their K-12 partners, focused on the Math and Science Partnership (MSP) Program guidelines (NSF 08-525) that were recently released by the Foundation. The due date for MSP proposals to NSF is Tuesday, March 25. QEM will support the participation of 20 three-person teams. Team membership must include a mathematics, science, or engineering faculty member from a minority-serving institution that offers an accredited teacher education program; an official representative of a school district in proximity to the institution; and a member of the institution’s teacher education faculty. Participating teams can add a fourth team member (e.g., an individual from a community college within commuting distance of the institution that is a source of students for the institution) provided travel and lodging for that individual is covered by institutional or other resources.

Participating teams must submit a brief concept paper (no more than two pages), based upon the new MSP Solicitation, that will be used during the workshop to provide feedback to the teams in small group discussions led by NSF/MSP Program Officers, QEM senior staff, and consultants. Please complete the workshop registration form for your team and submit by the deadline date, Friday, January 18. The deadline for the required concept paper also is Friday, January 18. If the number of eligible teams applying for the workshop exceeds 20, the number of three-person teams for which the QEM workshop is planned, other factors will be taken into consideration in selecting the participating teams in addition to a team's having submitted the required concept paper. These factors will include geographical distribution; the mix of minority-serving institutions interested in participating in the workshop; the composition of the proposed team; and the track record of the teacher education program at the eligible institution in producing teachers of mathematics and science.

In the FY 2008 MSP solicitation (NSF 08-525) released December 2007, NSF seeks to support six types of awards:

1. Targeted Partnerships focus on studying and addressing issues within a specific grade range or at a critical juncture in education, and/or within a specific disciplinary focus in mathematics or the sciences;
   
2. Institute Partnerships – Teacher Institutes for the 21st Century are designed to meet national needs for teacher leaders/master teachers who have deep knowledge of disciplinary content and are school- or district-based intellectual leaders in mathematics and science;
   
3. MSP-Start Partnerships are for awardees new to the MSP program, especially from minority-serving institutions, community colleges and primarily undergraduate institutions, to support the necessary data analysis, project design, evaluation and team building activities needed to develop a full MSP Targeted or Institute Partnership;
   
4. Phase II Partnerships for prior MSP Partnership awardees focus on specific innovative areas of their work where evidence of significant positive impact is clearly documented and where an investment of additional resources and time would produce more robust findings and results;
   
5. Research, Evaluation and Technical Assistance (RETA) projects directly support the work of the Partnerships, especially by developing tools to assess teachers’ growth in the knowledge of mathematics or the sciences needed for teaching, conducting longitudinal studies of teachers and their students who participate in the MSP projects, or engaging the national disciplinary and professional societies in MSP work; and
   
6. Innovation through Institutional Integration (I3) projects enable institutions to think and act strategically about the creative integration of NSF-funded awards, with particular emphasis on awards managed through programs in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR), but not limited to those awards. For Fiscal Year 2008, proposals are being solicited in six EHR programs that advance I3 goals: CREST, ITEST, MSP, Noyce, RDE, and TCUP.

See NSF MSP Program    for more information

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In March 2006, QEM hosted two one-day workshops for minority-serving institutions and their K-12 partners on the Math and Science Partnership (MSP) Program guidelines (NSF 06-539) that were released by the National Science Foundation on February 16, 2006. Prior to the workshops, participants were asked to prepare and submit a self-contained description of the activity that would result if a proposal were funded. In addition to including a statement of objectives and methods to be used, the one-page summary was required to clearly and separately address both of NSF's two Merit Review Criteria: Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts. NSF Program Officers and QEM consultants were available during the workshops to offer advice and feedback on participants' proposed project descriptions/summaries.

The first workshop, for Tribal Colleges and Universities and their K-12 partners, took place on Sunday,
March 12, 2006 atthe Millennium Harvest House, 1345 28^th Street, in Boulder, CO.   (SEE AGENDA)

The second workshop took place on Friday, March 24, 2006 at the E-center on the campus of Jackson State University, 1230 Raymond Road, Jackson, MS. (SEE AGENDA)

If you would like further information, please contact Shirley McBay, Project Director by e-mail at smmcbay1@qem.org or by telephone at 202/659-1818.

Created and Maintained by:
The Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network
1818 N Street, NW, Suite 350  •  Washington, DC 20036
Tel: 202/659-1818  •  Fax: 202/659-5408
Last Updated: April 2008
For questions or comments email us at qemnetwork@qem.org