Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement (McNair) Program
Instructions for Completing the Annual Performance Report
For Program Year 20065-20076
WHAT IS THIS PACKAGE?
This package contains the forms and instructions needed to prepare the annual performance report for the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement (McNair) Program. The Department of Education (Department) uses the information provided in the performance report to assess a grantee’s progress in meeting its approved goals and objectives and to determine a grantee’s prior experience points in accordance with the program regulations (34 CFR 647).
2. WHAT ARE THE LEGISLATIVE AND REGULATORY AUTHORITIES TO COLLECT THIS INFORMATION?
Title IV, Section 402E, of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (Public Law 102-325), the program regulations in 34 CFR Part 647; and sections 75.590, and 75.720 of the Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) permit the collection of this information.
WHO MUST FILE THIS REPORT?
All grantees funded under the McNair Program must submit an annual performance report as a condition of the grant award.
WHAT PERIOD OF TIME IS COVERED IN THE REPORT?
The individual participant information provided in the report should cover the 12-month academic year of the grantee institution that most closely aligns with the 12-month budget year for the grant that is found in Block 6 of the Grant Award Notification. The 20065-076 academic year is roughly August/September 20065 through August 20076.
5. WHEN SHOULD THE REPORT BE FILED?
The annual report should be submitted within 90 days after the end of each 12-month grant (budget) period.
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WHAT INFORMATION MUST BE SUBMITTED?
The report consists of three sections. Section I requests project identifying information; Section II requests an electronic file of individual participant records; and Section III requests information related to the prior experience criteria.
7. HOW MAY THE REPORT BE SUBMITTED?
The entire report must be submitted via the World Wide Web. In addition, you must submit, via fax, a signed copy of Section I of the report form that certifies that the information submitted electronically is accurate, complete, and readily verifiable. Only the signed copy of Section I must be faxed to the following fax number: 540-301-0799.
The Web application and instructions for submitting the report electronically will be available on DecSeptember 128, 20076, at the following web address:
http://www.ed.gov/programs/triomcnair/performance.html
The Web site contains the forms and instructions needed to prepare and submit on-line the annual performance report for the McNair Program. The Web application has the following features:
Instructions for using the Web site, an introduction to the data collection, and Online Help;
A Web form for completing Sections I on-line;
Functionality to upload an electronic file with the individual participant records (Section II); Grantees may also choose to continue to use the revised self-installing Visual Basic software application to collect the required information and prepare the data file;
A Web form that permits grantees to enter information directly relative to the Prior Experience Criteria in Section III. A grantee enters specific information on the accomplishment of approved objectives relative to the prior experience criteria contained in the program regulations (34 CFR 647.22) in both percentages and numbers. Additional narrative on other objectives or items of interest that the grantee chooses to include may be entered in the text box at the end of Section III;
A print button to make a hard copy of the information entered;
A submit button to send the entire report to the Department; and
An e-mail confirmation that the report has been submitted (if an e-mail address is provided when completing Section I).
Since the data being submitted contain confidential information on project participants, the Web site has been properly secured to ensure the data are only seen by authorized individuals and are protected from network hackers.
If for any reason you need to revise the performance report submission, please contact your assigned program specialist before re-submitting. A state listing of program specialist names, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses is available at the web address provided above.
8. WHO MAY BE CONTACTED FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONCERNING THE SUBMISSION OF THE PERFORMANCE REPORT?
Please contact your program specialist directly if you have questions regarding the performance report requirements. A state listing of program specialist names, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses is available at the Web address provided above.
Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement (McNair) Program
Specific Instructions for Completing the Performance Report
SECTION I: PROJECT IDENTIFICATION, CERTIFICATION, AND WARNING
A. Identification
To begin completing this report online, from the Department’s Web page you will need to click on https://webprod.cbmiweb.com/mcnair/, a Web site hosted by our contractor to support submittal of annual performance reports.
Once at the contractor's Web site (entitled "McNair Online Annual Performance Report for Program Year 20056–067"), you will need to complete a step that is new from last year: registration to receive a user ID and temporary password. Registration requires entry of the project director's first and last names and e-mail address and the project's PR award number (found on the Grant Award Notification). If this information matches the data that the Department currently has on file, a user ID and temporary password will be sent to the e-mail address on file. If discrepancies exist, your program specialist and the Help Desk will be sent an e-mail message requesting verification of data on the project. Please allow 24 hours for this verification to occur. Once the Help Desk has received verification from the program specialist, the grantee will be notified that he or she can continue with registration.
Once you have your user ID and temporary password, you may enter those on the site and click "Log in." You will be guided to select a new password, then to log in again.
You will be asked to confirm that the PR/Award number and associated grantee name are correct; you will then see the page for Section I. Your PR/Award number will be automatically inserted into line 1 of Section I of the report form.
The system will also pre-populate most of the other data fields in Section I. Please review the pre-populated fields, including the project director’s e-mail address, and update these fields as needed. You may change the data in all fields except for the project’s PR/Award Number, the Grantee Name, and the Report Period.
Please provide information for any fields that are not pre-populated.
B. Certification
You must submit via fax, a signed copy of Section I of the report form that certifies that the information submitted electronically is accurate, complete, and readily verifiable to the best of your knowledge. Section I must be signed by the project director and the certifying representative for the grantee institution.
With the exception of Section I of the report, you should not submit or fax a paper copy of the performance report.
C. Warnings
Any person who knowingly makes a false statement or misrepresentation on this report is subject to penalties which may include fines, imprisonment, or both, under the United States Criminal Code and 20 U.S.C.1097.
Further Federal funds or other benefits may be withheld under this program unless this report is completed and filed as required by existing law (20 U.S.C. 1231a) and regulations (34 CFR 75.590 and 75.720).
SECTION II: PARTICIPANT LIST
Each grantee is required to submit annually detailed information on each student served by the project during the academic year being reported as well as provide updated information on prior year participants still being tracked. The data file thus should contain a complete listing of current- and prior-year project participants.
Please note that the data file you submit must conform to the specifications of the record structure.
Fields # 1 - 25 and 40 – 44 should be completed or updated as needed for all current and prior year participants on the data file.
Fields # 26 - 39 should be completed only for those project participants who received these services from the McNair project during the current (20056-067) reporting period.
General Instructions for the Participant List
Who should be included on the annual data file?
The data file should include one record for each student served by the project during the academic year being reported as well as all prior year participants still being tracked. A project must track the progress of participants until they (1) obtain the doctoral degree (Ph.D., Ed.D., etc.) or a first professional degree (JD, MD, DDS, etc.), (2) have not enrolled in graduate or undergraduate studies for at least one term in the last five years, or (3) have been out of contact for a period of five or more years.
(2) How should participant’s status (new, continuing, or prior year), current grade level, and enrollment status be reported?
When preparing the data file, please note the following clarifications regarding how to report a participant’s status (new, continuing, or prior year), current grade level, and end-of-the-year enrollment status.
Since the Department of Education needs to be able to track the academic progress of McNair participants from one academic year to the next, this performance report needs to follow the 12-month academic year of the grantee institution instead of the 12-month budget/project year for the grant. For example, the 20065-20076 academic year is roughly August/September 20065 through August 20076 while the budget/project year for most McNair grants is October 1, 20065, through September 30, 20076. To ensure consistency in data reporting, please provide information on a participant’s status (field #16), college grade level (field #18) and enrollment status (field #19) based on the “academic year” not the project’s budget/project year. For this report, the academic year being reported is from the fall 20065 term through the end of the summer term 20076. For example, a McNair student served for the first time by the project during the fall 20065 semester should be reported as a “new participant” in field #16. That same student’s college grade level (field #18) would reflect the student’s grade level as of the end of the academic year being reported, and the enrollment status (field #19) would be “enrolled”, since the student was enrolled at least one term during the academic year.
Instructions for Completing the Date Fields (Fields #8, #14, #15, and #22)
Please follow carefully the instructions provided on the form. Review carefully the Valid Field Content column to ensure that the data submitted are in the correct format. It is extremely important that all date fields be 8 bytes and formatted as follows: 2 digits for month; 2 digits for day; two digits for century; and 2 digits for year. For example, a participant’s birth date of January 1, 1982 would be formatted as follows: 01011982. Always use the zero before one-digit months and days. If you are preparing Section II using Microsoft Excel or Access, please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions for additional guidance on formatting to ensure that your dates will import correctly.
Please make every effort to provide accurate dates. If you find it necessary to estimate a date, please do not enter “00s.” Rather, use 15 for the day and your best estimate for the month. If date is unknown, please enter 00000000
Field #1—PR Award Number
A grantee should use the PR Award Number applicable to the project (budget) period covered by this report. This number can be found in Block 5 of the Grant Award Notification. Be sure that you use the PR Award Number applicable to the reporting year even if you have been awarded a new grant and PR/Award Number for the next reporting period.
Please note that the PR Award Number is eleven (11) digits in length. Please be sure you use “zeros” instead “Os” when entering the PR/Award Number into your database.
Field #2—Batch Year
Use the four-digit year provided on the form. This number will change with each year’s submission. The Batch Year designates the fiscal year funding for the project period reported. TRIO grants are forward-funded. Therefore, as an example, fiscal year 20065 funds would be used to support project activities in the 20065-20076 program year. Thus, the data file for Batch Year 20065 would include information on project participants served or tracked during academic year 20065-20076.
This field assists us in quickly identifying whether or not you have been successful in tracking the academic progress of prior participants for this reporting period. For new participant records added to the data file for this reporting period, select “1” for “Yes.” For prior year participants, select “1” for “Yes” if you have updated and/or verified at least part of the applicable data fields for this reporting period based on information received from the student (or the postsecondary institution); select “2” for “No” if you have not received updated information for the reporting year. If option 2 is used, please use the code for “unknown/no response” in fields #18, #19, and #20.
Field #4—Social Security Number (SSN)
SSNs are very important as they assist the Department in tracking participant outcomes over multiple years and facilitate matching of participant records with other databases. If a project does not know a student’s SSN, please enter 000000000 rather than providing other forms of identification numbers.
The race/ethnicity categories used in this section are consistent with the Department’s policy on the collection of racial and ethnic information. These categories are defined as follows: American Indian or Alaska Native - A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North America, and who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliations or community recognition. Asian - A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. This area includes, for example, China, India, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines.
Black or African American - A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. Hispanic or Latino - A person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race. White - A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East. Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander – A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii or other pacific islands such as Samoa and Guam. For those participants of a multi-racial background, select option “7 -More than one race reported.”
The statute and regulations governing the McNair Program require that an eligible project participant must be a “low-income individual who is a first-generation college student” or a “member of a group that is underrepresented in graduate education” (definitions are provided below). At least two-thirds of project participants each year must be both low-income and first-generation college students; the remaining participants can be members of groups underrepresented in graduate education.
Three fields allow for the analysis of project participants by all combinations of eligibility status: low-income and first-generation and underrepresented racial/ethnic group. If you do not collect income and first-generation data on participants who qualify for services as members of groups underrepresented in graduate education, please select option “0 – Unknown/no response” for fields #11 and #12.
Low-income individual means an individual whose family’s taxable income did not exceed 150 percent of the poverty level amount in the calendar year preceding the year in which the individual initially participated in the project. The poverty level amount is determined using criteria of poverty established by the Bureau of the Census of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
First-generation college student means (1) an individual neither of whose natural or adoptive parents received a baccalaureate degree; or (2) an individual who, prior to the age of 18, regularly resided with and received support from only one parent and whose supporting parent did not receive a baccalaureate degree; or (3) an individual who, prior to the age of 18, did not regularly reside with or receive support from a natural or adoptive parent.
Groups underrepresented in graduate education currently include the following ethnic and racial groups: Black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaskan Native. (Note: The Secretary has determined as a policy issue that Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders may be included in this definition.)
Field #14—First School Enrollment Date
The “first school enrollment date” is the date the McNair participant first enrolled in a program of postsecondary education. Provide this information for all students served by the McNair project even if the student did not begin or is not currently enrolled at your institution. The purpose of this data field is to determine the length of time from initial enrollment in postsecondary education through undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree completion.
Field #16—Participant Status
For this field, please use the following definitions:
A new participant is an individual who was served by the McNair project for the first time during the academic year being reported.
A continuing participant is an individual who was served by the project for the first time in another academic year and also received project services during the academic year being reported. Do not count as continuing participants, individuals for whom the main contact from the project during this academic period was for tracking purposes; these individuals should be designated as prior year participants.
Note: The sum of the number of new and continuing participants should equal the total number of participants the projects served during the reporting period.
Field #18 allows for the classification of the student’s college grade level at the end of the spring/summer term. For undergraduate students who received project services, graduated, and enrolled in graduate school during the reporting period (e.g., student was an undergraduate during the 20065 fall semester, graduated at the end of the fall semester and enrolled in graduate school for the spring 20076 semester), please select option “7 – 1st year graduate/professional (received program services as undergraduate during the reporting period).” Please select option “13 – Other” for students who are working on a second bachelor’s or second master’s degree. Also select option “13 – Other” for students who have earned a bachelor’s degree and are doing postbaccalaureate work but have not yet enrolled in a graduate program. This category also includes those participants in their fifth/final year of a 5-year combined undergraduate/Master’s degree program.
Fields #19 and 20—Enrollment Status and Reason Not Enrolled
Field #19 allows projects to report whether or not the participant was enrolled in postsecondary education for at least one term during the reporting period.
Field #20, “Reason Not Enrolled,” allows projects to document the reason the student was not enrolled during the academic year being reported (see Field #19 for definition of “not enrolled”). Use option #12 to report on individuals who consider their education completed and don’t plan to enroll in a doctoral program. Use option #13 to report on individuals who were not enrolled in the reporting year because the individual had attained a doctoral (Ph.D., Ed.D, etc.) or first professional degree (JD, MD, DDS, etc.) prior to the current reporting year (20056-076), AND the same degree had not been previously reported
Field #21 reflects the degree attainment information of participants. Select the one-digit degree code that indicates the highest degree the participant has earned as of the end of the academic year being reported. If no Bachelor’s degree has been earned, use option “6”, otherwise please report the highest degree each participant has earned. If the participant earned a degree in the academic year being reported, update this field appropriately. If the participant has earned more than one degree, report only the highest degree obtained.
Field #22, Date of Highest Degree, tracks changes in student’s status relative to degree attainment. Use “99999999–No Bachelor’s degree earned yet” for participants that have not yet completed a baccalaureate degree. Use “00000000—Unknown/no response” if you do not know the date of highest degree earned or if the data are not available for prior year participants.
Field #23, Major/field of graduate study, allows for reporting of the precise major or field of study the McNair participant undertakes in graduate school (a listing and breakdown of fields of graduate study are provided below). This field is only for graduate students who are enrolled. For all other students use option “13 - Not Applicable.”
Physical Sciences include: Astronomy, Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Chemistry, Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geology, Information Sciences, Marine Sciences (including Oceanography), Mathematics (including Mathematical Statistics, Operations Research), Physics
Engineering includes: Aerospace, Biomedical, Civil, Chemical, Computer, Electrical and Electronics, Engineering Technology, Industrial and Manufacturing, Mechanical, Metallurgical and Material, Mining, Nuclear, Structural, Systems
Life Sciences include: Agricultural Sciences, Agricultural Management, Biological Sciences (all fields), Biometrics and Biostatistics, Botany and Other Plant Sciences, Ecology, Forestry, Genetics, Horticultural Sciences, Neuroscience, Nutritional Sciences, Parasitology, Pharmacology, Physiology (Human and Animal), Soil Sciences, Toxicology, Zoology
Health Sciences include: Allied Health Technologies and Services, Health Sciences, Hospital Administration, Kinesiology, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, Rehabilitation Services and Counseling, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology
Social Sciences include: Anthropology, Area Studies, Communications, Criminology, Demography/Population Studies, Economics/Econometrics, Geography, Journalism, International Relations/Affairs, Political Sciences and Government, Psychology (including Biopsychology), Public Policy, Sociology, Urban Studies/Planning
Humanities include: American Studies, Afro-American Studies, Art and Art History, Classics and Letters, Dance, Films and other Visual Arts, English Literature and Language, Ethnic Studies, Foreign Languages and Literature, History, Home Economics, Interdisciplinary Studies, Linguistics, Music (including Performance), Philosophy, Speech and Rhetorical Studies, Theology and Religious Studies
Education includes: All teaching specialty fields, Education Research, Teacher Education
Business Administration includes: Accounting, Banking, Business Administration/Management, Finances, Industrial Organization, Marketing and Marketing Research, All other Business fields
Medicine, Dentistry, and Other Medical Fields includes: Chiropractic, Dentistry, Medicine (all specialties), Optometry, Podiatry
Law
Other Professional Fields includes: Architecture, Library Sciences, Parks and Recreations, Protective Services, Social Work
Field #24, GPA Scale, allows for accurate GPA reporting whether on a 4.0 or 5.0 grading scale. Field #25, Cumulative GPA, collects information on a student’s academic performance at the time of the attainment of the bachelor’s degree. The data in this field should reflect the cumulative GPA of the participant upon graduation with a bachelor’s degree only. Do not provide any other GPA in this field.
Complete these fields only for those project participants who received services from the McNair project during the academic year being reported. For prior year participants, select 2 for “No.”
These fields allow for the collection of information on the types of services the McNair project most commonly provides to active participants while they are in the project. No one project will choose to offer all of the listed services. A student may or may not receive each of the activities/services listed during the reporting year and should be coded accordingly. Be sure to accurately record individual student information regarding the services received or provided by your project to that individual. Report only on the services the student received from the project during the academic year being reported.
Research refers to any unpaid research activities participants engaged in or research activities that were paid from non-McNair sources.
McNair internships refer only to those activities for which the legislated stipend of up to $2,800 was paid to students who participated in research activities.
Seminars/workshops means group activities that provide participants with the opportunity to receive information or practice methodology in one or more areas necessary for the successful navigation of the educational system relative to the attainment/completion of their doctoral studies.
Tutoring means individual or small group tutoring provided by a graduate student or a professional staff person.
Academic counseling means assisting students in making educational plans, selecting appropriate courses, meeting academic requirements, and planning for graduation and graduate education.
Financial aid assistance means assisting students individually or in small groups in completing financial aid applications and securing fellowships and other forms of financial assistance for graduate study.
Mentoring means professionals, other than project staff, working with project students to expose them to careers that require doctoral degrees.
Exposure to cultural events and academic programs means any project sponsored activities, such as field trips, special lectures, and symposiums, that have as their purpose the improvement of the project participants’ academic progress and personal development.
Conferences means project sponsored trips to professional conferences related to the various fields of study proposed to be undertaken by project participants at the graduate level.
Graduate school visits/fairs means project sponsored trips to graduate schools or fairs for the purpose of acquainting students with institutions that the project participants may wish to attend to further their education.
Test preparation means activities designed to prepare participants for success on the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) or other test needed for admission to graduate programs.
Teaching related experiences means project sponsored opportunities for participants to gain personal and practical knowledge of the rigors and rewards of the professorate through direct participation, observation or “shadowing” experiences.
Field #40 – Eligibility will provide grantees with the means to report the exact eligibility criterion which was used to select a student for program participation and will also provide the Department with information to document that the two-thirds low-income, first generation and one third underrepresented students requirement is being adhered to by individual grantees.
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Field #41- Project Participation will provide grantees with the means to report whether the student was active in the project during the academic year only, the summer component only or a combination of both. This will allow the Department to determine the level or degree of student participation during the reporting period and will help eliminate double reporting of students. This field should be reported for new and continuing students only—select option “9” for prior year participants.
Field # 42 – Funding Source will provide grantees with the means to report the funding source(s) used to support the activities afforded to individual students under the McNair program. It will also clarify why the actual student service number reported for some projects exceeds the Department’s approved student service number of official record.
Field #43, Tracking Completed, provides grantees with the means to report whether the student has (1) obtained the doctoral degree (Ph.D., Ed.D., etc.) or a first professional degree (JD, MD, DDS, etc.), (2) has not enrolled in graduate or undergraduate studies for at least one term in the last five years, or (3) has been out of contact for a period of five or more years. Once a participant meets one of the above conditions, the grantee is not required to include the participant record in subsequent performance report submissions.
Field #44, Special Circumstances (a 254 byte text box), provides grantees an opportunity to explain any special conditions that may have affected its ability to successfully or accurately report all or some of the student data requested.
SECTION III: PRIOR EXPERIENCE
This section of the annual performance report is designed to specifically collect information on the achievement of the core objectives as contained in 34 CFR 647.22. This section of the annual performance report is your opportunity to indicate how successfully your project has been in implementing the goals and objectives outlined in the prior experience criteria. You must provide information in both percentage and number on the level of accomplishment for your project for each item under the prior experience criteria.
The information provided will be used in the assessment of your prior experience score for this reporting year, so please be as accurate as possible, since no changes/addendums will be accepted after your report is submitted and accepted. If you did not implement one or more of the objectives, the “Other” text box at the end of the form may be used to discuss the reason(s). This text box may also be used to discuss and update any other objectives/activities not specifically identified in this section on which you would like to provide information.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | 2005-06 Annual Performance Report Instructions for the Ronald McNair Program (MS Word) |
| Author | Eileen.Bland |
| Last Modified By | Tara.Bell |
| File Modified | 2007-08-23 |
| File Created | 2007-08-23 |