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Primer for the
MSP Management Information System
Comprehensive and Targeted Projects
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Section 1—Overview
Overview of the Math and Science Partnership (MSP) Program
The 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 both raise the achievement levels of all students and significantly reduce
achievement gaps in the mathematics and science performance of diverse student populations. Successful
projects serve as models that can be widely replicated in educational practice to improve the mathematics
and science achievement of all the nation’s students.
The MSP program seeks to improve K-12 student achievement through a sharp focus on three
interrelated issues:
Ensuring that all students have access to, are prepared for, and are encouraged to
participate and succeed in challenging and advanced mathematics and science courses;
Enhancing the quality, quantity, and diversity of the K-12 mathematics and science teacher
workforce; and
Developing evidence-based outcomes that contribute to our understanding of how students
effectively learn mathematics and science.
MSP projects aim to address these issues by incorporating a depth and quality of creative
strategic actions that extend beyond commonplace approaches. Although all MSP projects share a focus
on the same set of fundamental issues, individual MSP projects differ in their scope and are categorized
accordingly. MSP provides awards to the following distinct types of partnerships: 1
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Comprehensive Partnerships implement change in mathematics and/or science educational
practices in both higher education institutions and in schools and school districts, resulting
in improved student achievement across the K-12 continuum.
Targeted Partnerships focus on improved K-12 student achievement in a narrower grade
range or disciplinary focus within mathematics or science.
Institute Partnerships, also referred to as Teacher Institutes for the 21st Century, focus on
the development of mathematics and science teachers as school- and district-based
intellectual leaders and master teachers.
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.
Phase II Partnerships for prior MSP Partnership awardees focus on specific innovation
areas of their work where evidence of significant positive impact is clearly documented
The MSP Management Information System (MIS) pertains to all types of partnerships.
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and where an investment of additional resources and time would produce more robust
findings and results.
Purpose and Structure of the Math and Science Partnership (MSP)
Management Information System (MIS)
The MSP Management Information System (MIS) is designed to obtain annual information about
each MSP-funded project, its grant recipient, partner organizations, participants, activities, and outcomes.
Completed surveys will be used to assess the overall implementation of the MSP program and to monitor
the progress of individual MSP grants. Because the same data will be collected each year, the system will
allow for comparisons both within and across projects over time. Data collected through this system will
be used to provide NSF and other stakeholders (e.g., Congress) with timely information on the
implementation and impact of the overall MSP program. These data will also enable your program officer
to assess the annual progress of your project. Because these data are made available to you and your
project evaluators, your project will also be able to make use of this information for your own planning,
reporting and evaluation efforts.
This data collection system is designed so that information can be collected in an efficient and
systematic manner. All information is collected online through a Web-based system consisting of
automatic skip patterns and internal validations. Many of the items will be answered using prelisted
response categories that allow users to choose the most appropriate response. Other questions require
brief narrative answers or explanations. Each question asked in each section must be answered
completely. After the first year, responses for some of the questions will be pre-filled with information
from the preceding year, requiring only that you review the accuracy of the information. As such, the
time it takes to complete subsequent year surveys will be reduced from what will be needed in the first
year of the collection.
For Comprehensive and Targeted projects, the system is currently composed of four surveys plus
an administrative module. Each of the modules should be completed by the appropriate individual or
institution, as detailed below. These modules will pertain to each MSP project and are to be completed on
an annual basis throughout the life of the MSP project. The MSP MIS comprises the following surveys:
Annual Survey for Comprehensive and Targeted Partnership Projects. This survey
collects information on each of the project’s partner organizations (e.g., Institutions of
Higher Education (IHEs), K-12 school districts, project evaluators), the grades and subject
areas the project will address, project activities by key feature, and involvement with MSP
Research, Evaluation, and Technical Assistance (RETA) awardees. It can be completed by
the principal investigator (PI) or someone designated by the PI. Included in the survey is an
Administrative Section that must be completed in order that K-12 district partners, IHE
partners, and IHE participants can have access to the system to complete the survey
modules for which they are responsible.
Annual K-12 District Survey. This survey module collects information about each K-12
school district that is serving as a lead, core, or supporting partner—as well as on the
participating schools within those districts. The survey can be completed by a project-level
evaluator, by project staff within a given district, or by the PI. The following data will be
collected about each K-12 school district: (1) the number of K-12 individuals (i.e.,
teachers, principals, guidance counselors) who developed and/or delivered MSP activities
during the previous school year; (2) the amount of professional development received by
teachers and administrators, both during the previous school year and since the beginning
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of the MSP project; and (3) the number of schools within the district participating in MSP
during the previous school year. The following data will be collected about each
participating K-12 school that meets certain criteria (see Section 4 for criteria): (1) the
demographic characteristics (gender, race/ethnicity, etc.) of all K-12 teachers in
participating schools and of K-12 teachers who actively participated in MSP in the
previous school year; (2) the demographic characteristics of students in participating
schools by grade level; (3) the demographic characteristics of students enrolled in and
completing challenging mathematics and science courses; (4) student achievement on
statewide, criterion-based, math and science accountability assessments that were
administered during the previous school year; and (5) whether the school met Adequate
Yearly Progress (AYP) in mathematics during the previous school year.
Annual Institution of Higher Education Survey. This survey collects the following data
about each MSP IHE partner: (1) the number of individuals who developed and/or
delivered MSP activities; (2) the number of individuals who were recipients of MSP
activities and; (3) information about MSP-supported pre-service courses. The survey can
be completed by project staff at each IHE or by the PI.
Annual IHE Participant Survey. This survey module collects information about the
characteristics and contributions of IHE faculty members and administrators who are active
participants in an MSP project. Information collected includes demographic characteristics,
current fields of research and instruction, and contributions to their MSP. The survey must
be completed by each individual IHE faculty member and administrator who is directly
supported by the MSP grant and/or directly participated in the development or
implementation of MSP-related activities during the previous school year.
Purpose and Content of this Primer
This primer provides information about how to navigate the online system and how to respond to
individual collection items. The remainder of Section 1 provides general instructions of relevance for all
systems users. Section 2 provides information on how to navigate the online system. Sections 3-6 provide
information on each of the four surveys:
If you are the PI for a Comprehensive or Targeted MSP, see Section 3 for additional context
or explanation about the administrative module and the Annual Survey for Comprehensive
and Targeted Partnership Projects.
If you are involved in the completion of the Annual K-12 District Survey, see Section 4.
If you are involved in the completion of the Annual Institution of Higher Education (IHE)
Survey, see Section 5.
If you are an IHE participant, see Section 6 for additional information about the Annual IHE
Participant Survey.
Section 7 is a glossary of terms used in the survey.
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General Information
This section provides general information that you should become familiar with prior to
completing a survey.
Why is completing this survey important? The MSP program is one of the major educational
programs funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Although NSF expects the funded programs
to benefit from their grants, NSF’s primary goal is to identify what types of programs are most effective
in improving educational opportunities for our nation’s children. To do this, it is critical for NSF to obtain
feedback from as many program participants as possible. This information will then be used to help NSF
and others in designing future educational programs. It will also be used to help NSF comply with annual
congressional reporting requirements.
Do I need to review all the detailed instructions in this primer? Most questions in this system
should be self-explanatory. However, there are questions that include terms that need to be defined or
require additional context or explanation. Furthermore, the online instructions do not cover situations that
may be relevant to only a small number of respondents. Thus, reviewing the detailed instructions for the
survey you are completing is strongly encouraged. You should also consult the primer when you are
unsure of how to respond to a question.
What should I do when a question asks me to choose only one response and I’m not sure
which response to choose? Some of the survey questions ask you to select one response from a list.
Please read the whole list and then select the response that best answers the question. If you stop reading
when you first get to a response that seems to fit, you may miss a later response that better describes your
situation. If you really cannot decide on which of two or more responses is best, please choose one
response using whatever arbitrary means you would like.
How should I report information for a program that includes pre-kindergarten children? Some
survey questions ask for information about K-12 or K-20 programs, students, and teachers; however,
some Cohort 1 projects did include programs addressing the needs of pre-kindergarten children. For the
purposes of this survey, please consider these teachers and students to be part of the elementary school
population.
How do you define a school year? Many questions on these surveys ask about things that
occurred during the previous school year. Feel free to define the school year in the way that makes the
most sense for your project. In order to ensure that no relevant summertime activities are missed, please
consider whether it would be most appropriate for your project to include the summer months at the
beginning of the school year, or at the end of the school year. For example, if your project kicks off with
a two-week Summer Institute at the beginning of August, you might decide to define the “previous school
year” as August 1 through July 31. If your project does not conduct summer activities, you should
consider the beginning of the school year to be the beginning of the fall semester. The important thing is
that you are consistent from one reporting year to the next, so that information you report in one year can
be compared with that reported in other years. Once you have made a decision about how to define the
previous school year, make sure that all of your partners and survey respondents are aware of these
parameters and report their data accordingly.
Who should I contact if I have a question? On the home page of all of the surveys you will find
the name and phone number of the individual to contact for that particular survey. Questions can also be
emailed to MSPMIS@westat.com. When sending emails, in addition to the question, please be sure to
include your name and phone number, your project’s name and/or award ID number, and the survey that
you are referring to.
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What happens if I don’t respond to this survey? NSF expects that all Partnership projects will
fully enter data into the MSP MIS. While it is the responsibility of the PI to achieve a response rate of 100
percent for all surveys, the system allows other appropriate individuals/institutions to complete parts of
different surveys.
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Section 2—Navigating the System
This section describes some of the technical and navigational features built into the MSP
Management Information System (MIS), as well as how to perform other basic system functions, such as
printing and resources for finding help. Additional system features that are accessible only to PIs are
discussed in Section 3.
Logging In and Passwords
To use the MSP MIS, you must have access to the Internet through a Web browser. To access this
system, type in the following Internet address:
www.msp-mis.org
Westat will provide each PI with an initial login name and password that will allow access to the
system. After setting up login names and passwords for their partners and IHE participants, the PIs or
their designees will be responsible for communicating these login names and passwords to their partners
and IHE participants responsible for completing surveys.
General Navigation
After logging in to the system, you can begin completing the survey by clicking on a section
name. All section names are listed as links in a menu on the initial screen. Except for the IHE Participant
Survey, which has only one section, this system allows you to complete the sections in whatever order
you prefer (unless information from one section is used in formulating and pre-filling the questions in
another section). After a section has been completed, a checkmark will appear next to that section name
on the initial screen.
For each individual question in the system, you are asked to provide information either through
text fields or drop-down menus, or by checking or filling in boxes, or a combination of these. After
entering and/or selecting the appropriate information for a question, click on “Save & Continue” at the
bottom of the screen. If you do not click on “Save & Continue” after answering a question, the
information you entered will be lost. Clicking on Save & Continue will automatically save the
information you have entered and will take you to the first unanswered item in the section. If, after
clicking on the Save & Continue button, you receive an error message and the information that you had
just entered is lost, clicking on your browser’s back button usually will retrieve your data. To avoid this
potential problem, we strongly recommend enabling JavaScript.
Until you do a final submit of a survey, you may, at any time, return to an item that has been
saved and revise your response. Please be aware that in some cases, when one item is linked to another,
revising one response may result in the loss of data.
On most screens in the system, a question guide appears on the left side of the screen (see the
screen shot below). This guide provides a list of all questions in the particular section of the survey you
are completing. In the question guide, a red bar with a checkmark indicates that the question has been
completed. A blue bar with an arrow indicates that you are able to respond to a particular question that
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you have not yet completed. A black bar with an “X” indicates that the question does not need to be
addressed—or that the item cannot be accessed until prior questions in that section have been completed.
In some cases when you try to save a question response, the system will alert you to a problem
with your response. This may occur, for example, because you have failed to complete a required field or
because you have entered inconsistent numbers (e.g., data that you have entered across several rows do
not sum to the total). The system message will explain what the problem is. Again, because the system
uses JavaScript to report response error, we suggest having JavaScript enabled.
If you wish to modify your response to a question, you can click on the appropriate question
number in the question guide on the left hand side of the screen, modify your response, and then click
Save and Continue. Your original information will then be replaced by the new information.
You must answer questions within some of the sections in sequential order; however, you may
skip to any question you have already answered within a particular section by clicking on the appropriate
bar in the question guide. You may also access sections you have already completed and submitted by
clicking on that section’s link in the matrix on the home screen.
At any time while you are inputting information into the system, you may return to a previous
screen or question by clicking on the Back button on your Web browser.
In addition to the section links, there are several other links at the top of every screen in the
system. The following links will allow you to navigate through the system (if you click any of these links
while answering a question, you will be taken out of that question and the information you have entered
will not be saved. To return to that question, click the Back button on your browser):
Home: For surveys with multiple sections (i.e., all surveys except for the IHE participant survey),
this links back to the most recently viewed menu page. For the IHE Participant Survey, the
Home link will open the instruction page.
Glossary: An alphabetized listing of acronyms and key terms and their definitions is provided
here.
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Contact: Opens a blank email to MSPMIS@westat.com.
Help: If you have questions about the system, try this link. You can also use this link to obtain
paper copies of the survey instruments and this primer.
Sign Out: This will automatically log you out of the system and link you back to the login page.
Section Submittal
Once you have successfully completed all questions in a section, you should submit the section to
the system. At this point, the system considers the section to be completed and a check mark appears next
to the section on the menu screen. Note that until you have made a final submittal of a survey (see below),
you can still return to make additional changes to a submitted section of that survey.
Final Submittal
Once you have successfully completed all questions in all sections of the survey, the data must be
submitted to the system. A final submission of data is your last step in completing a survey. After the
final submission of a survey, access to that year’s survey will be denied. In the event that you need to
reopen the system after a final submission (e.g., to make additional changes), you must contact the person
who provided you with your login name and password and request that your survey be reopened.
Text Entry
Many screens in the system have text boxes in which you are asked to supply information in
narrative form. None of the text boxes within the system asks you to submit an exorbitant amount of
information (generally, no more than 1-2 paragraphs are requested). However, you should be prepared to
provide complete answers to all open-ended questions. Since there are no text formatting or editing tools,
such as spell check, built into the system, it may be easier for you to type your answer in a word
processing program, format and edit it, and then copy and paste it into the appropriate text box.
Numeric Entries
Do not leave any of the cells blank in tables requesting numeric entries. If the information
requested is unknown or not currently available to enter in to the system, you should mark the cell with an
“X” to indicate so. Only enter “0” in a cell when it is the actual number that you wish to report for a
given cell (e.g., to report that there are no Asian math teachers at the school).
Printing
If you have not yet completed a section, you can print out any visible Web page by clicking on
the Web print icon. Note that the information printed in this way has not necessarily been saved. All
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respondents (except IHE Participants) can use the “Reports” link (found in the menu on the top of the
screen) to print, view and download completed sections of the survey. IHE participants completing the
Annual IHE Participant Survey for Institute Projects, can print a complete copy of their responses after
the survey has been submitted to the system.
Logging Out/Saving Information
If you are unable to complete an entire section or survey at one time, you may complete part of
the section or survey by clicking on Save & Continue at the bottom of any question and then logging out
by clicking on the “Sign Out” link, which can be found at the top of any screen. This will return you to
the main login screen, which asks for the login name and password. All information entered up to that
point will be saved.
As stated above, you can complete only part of a survey, log out, and enter the system later to
complete any remaining information. When you reenter the system, you will be taken to the starting
screen for your survey. For surveys with multiple sections, this lists the section names for that survey.
When you reenter a section (or the IHE Participant Survey), you will be directed to the first question in
the section that has not yet been answered.
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Section 3—Information for MSP Comprehensive and
Targeted PIs
This section addresses three topics of relevance to Comprehensive and Targeted MSP PIs and
their designees: (1) the administrative section, (2) monitoring tools that are only available to PIs and their
designees, and (3) the Annual Survey for Partnership Projects.
The administrative module and the Annual Survey for Partnership Projects are to be completed by
each MSP PI. Some of the item responses in these modules will be used to pre-fill subsequent year data
collections, thereby reducing the time it takes to complete this survey in future years. Most pre-filled
items will only need to be reviewed and, if necessary, updated on an annual basis.
In addition to reading this section, please review the general information provided in Sections 1
and 2 before completing the administrative section or the survey. You will note that only sections and
questions that respondents are likely to need specific guidance to answer are included here. If you have a
question about how we are using a specific term, you may find the glossary helpful. If your specific
questions are not covered, please contact the person indicated at the beginning of your survey. Not only
will this help you in providing answers that are meaningful and comparable to those submitted by other
respondents, but the questions will help us in revising this manual for use in future data collection
activities.
ADMINISTRATIVE SECTION
After the initial login (using the login name and password assigned by the Westat system
administrator), the Administrative Section is the first section that must be completed by the PI. This
section, which can be accessed by clicking on “Admin” in the menu on the top of the screen, consists of
six lists that must be completed as soon after the system opens as possible.
Annual Survey for Partnership Projects: List of Users allows for the addition of new users for the
Annual Survey for Partnership Projects (e.g., if you would like your project director and evaluator
to have access to the Annual Survey for Partnership Projects, you can create new login names and
passwords for them in this section). There is no limit to the number of users who may have
access to the Annual Survey for Partnership Projects. Also, multiple users, responsible for the
completion of separate sections, may be signed into the system at the same time.
The list of K-12 District Partners is designed to record all core and supporting K-12 district
partners and their current participation status (active, not active, etc.). You will find that this list
has been pre-filled with information provided by your MSP. Please select and update
participation status for each district listed. You may also add any new partner districts to this list.
Please be sure to include all core and supporting district partners in this list.
Annual K-12 District Survey: List of Users is to be completed after the K-12 District Partners list.
You must create at least one login name and password for each active K-12 district partner. The
login information that you create will grant access to the K-12 District Survey for the specified
district. You must provide the individual responsible for the completion of the K-12 District
Survey with the new login information. There is no limit to the number of users who may have
access to each district’s survey.
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The next two lists are similar to the K-12 district lists, but they record information about institute
of higher education (IHE) partners. The list of IHE Partners records the names and participation
status of all core and supporting IHE partners. This list has also been pre-filled with information
provided by your MSP. You should select and update participation status for each IHE listed and
add IHE partners to the list as necessary. Complete the Annual Institution of Higher Education
Survey: List of Users list after the IHE Partners list has been completed. Again, you must create
at least one login name and password for each active IHE partner, as the login information you
create will grant access to the IHE Survey for the specified IHE. You must provide the individual
responsible for the completion of the IHE Survey with the new login information. There is no
limit to the number of users who may have access to each IHE’s survey.
The final list, Annual IHE Participant Survey: List of Users, must also be completed after the
IHE Partners list has been completed. Use this list to create login names and passwords for all
IHE participants. For the purposes of this collection, this includes any STEM or Education
Department faculty member or high-level administrator (e.g. dean, department chair) who was (1)
directly supported by the MSP grant, and/or (2) directly participated in the development or
implementation of MSP-related activities during the previous school year. Each active
participant will be required to complete the Annual IHE Participant Survey. If you have
questions about who should complete the survey, please contact Westat staff.
Please note that while the system will track IHE participants from year to year, the identity of the
individual IHE Participant Survey respondent will not be known by NSF or Westat. Since the
system will not link login names with an individual, it is strongly recommended that you create
a database that stores a list of participants associated with specific login names and
passwords so that you can follow up with participants who do not complete their surveys in a
timely manner or need to be reminded of their login information in future collection years.
Neither NSF nor Westat will be able to provide this information to you or to other
respondents in future years. You may want to consider assigning login names and passwords
in such a manner that will allow the PI (or other project staff) to easily identify the participant
(e.g., use the participant's first initial followed by the last four digits of his/her Social Security
number as a login name and/or password). Just as with the K-12 District Survey and IHE
Survey, you are responsible for providing all IHE participants with their login information
and ensuring that they complete the survey.
In filling out this information, please note:
•
You should be consistent in the names used to identify organizations throughout the
surveys in order to minimize the chance of confusion. For example, if the University
of ABC is one of your IHEs, do not sometimes abbreviate it as UABC, sometimes
refer to it as Univ. of ABC and sometimes refer to it as University of ABC. To
facilitate consistency, you will probably find it helpful to print out the administrative
module after you complete it, so that you can use it in completing other sections of
the Annual Survey for Partnership Projects.
•
In assigning login names and passwords, please consider whether your choice will
permit your partners to figure out how to access information from other
organizations or individuals. For example, if the University of ABC and the
University of 123 are among your IHEs and you make both the login name and the
password for the University of ABC “UABC,” and make the login name and
password for the University of 123 “U123,” it is likely that they could figure out how
to look at one another’s information.
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MONITORING TOOLS
PIs or their designees are responsible for monitoring the survey submissions of their partners and
IHE participants and ensuring that all surveys are completed and submitted by the deadline. The system
has some features to assist you in performing this task. You will be able to determine which of your
partners and IHE participants have completed their surveys. To access their survey status, log in to your
Annual Survey for Partnership Projects and click on the appropriate link (Annual K-12 District Survey,
Annual IHE Survey or Annual IHE Participant Survey) in the Survey Management menu at the bottom
of the home page. Each of these links lists the participants or institutions in your MSP that you have
indicated should be responding to the selected survey. If the survey has been submitted to the system, a
checkmark will appear in the column indicating survey status. If you or the survey respondent wishes to
modify a response after final submission of a survey to the system, you can reactivate user access by
clicking the “Reopen Survey” button next to the checkmark. Once all project surveys have been
submitted to the system, a submit section button will appear. Each set of surveys must be submitted to
the system by the PI or their designee. This feature allows the PI to sign-off on all project surveys. On
the Survey Management menu, a check to the left of a survey indicates that all surveys are complete and
have been submitted to the system. Please note that the check may disappear if the administrative section
is revised.
If you wish to view survey information submitted (without modifying it) you should click on
“Reports,” which appears at the top of your screen. This will allow you to print out, view, or download
information submitted to the system by clicking the appropriate print, view, or Excel icon. You can also
activate the same functions for those sections of the Annual Survey for Partnership Projects that you have
submitted.
ANNUAL SURVEY FOR
PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS
COMPREHENSIVE
AND
TARGETED
In addition to completing the Administrative section and monitoring their partners and IHE
participants, PIs or their designees are responsible for completing all remaining sections of the Annual
Survey for Comprehensive and Targeted Partnership Projects. Some items from these sections of the
survey are described here. Once all sections of the Annual Survey for Comprehensive and Targeted
Partnership Projects are complete (including the Survey Management sections), be sure to submit the
survey to NSF before the system closes.
Information about Partner Organizations
Q1: Partner Organization Name. When you are entering the names of K-12 districts and IHE
partner organizations, please enter their names exactly as they appear in the administrative module to
avoid confusion. Please note that each active district/IHE listed in the administrative screen must be
entered as a partner organization, in addition to other core or supporting partners.
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Information About Partnership-Driven Activities Conducted During the
Previous School Year
Q1: Indicate the number of non-academic individuals that developed and/or delivered MSP
activities during the previous school year. For Q1, do not include persons affiliated with either an IHE
or a K-12 institution—this information is obtained elsewhere in the collection. Do include all other
individuals who participated in the development and/or delivery of an MSP activity regardless of the
duration or intensity of participation or the numbers of individuals served. Do not count an individual in
more than one broad discipline (scientist, mathematician, engineer, or other). If you know the person’s
specific discipline but are uncertain about which broad discipline it falls under, please use the Glossary
for more information on which detailed fields should be included in each broad discipline. If the Glossary
does not provide adequate information for classification, it is best to ask the participant to identify the
appropriate discipline. If this is not possible, use your best judgment to determine the most appropriate
response.
Q3: To what extent did each of the following hinder your efforts to engage or organize your
partners during the previous school year? This item is designed to obtain information about
challenges that your project faced during the previous school year in engaging your MSP partners. NSF
encourages candor in your response to this question. Valuable lessons learned on a project are often the
result of unanticipated or unavoidable events. Describing your project’s experiences in resolving these
challenges will help NSF staff provide assistance to other projects that are having similar difficulties.
In addressing this item, you should consider the collective effect of the specified challenge on
your ability to engage and organize your partners. For example, Q3b asks to what extent a lack of time or
other resources among K-12 partners hindered your efforts to engage or organize your partners. If your
MSP had no challenges with most of your K-12 partners in this regard, but had sufficient trouble with one
partner that it seriously impeded your ability to get the K-12 partners engaged or organized (e.g., you
might have significantly delayed important organizational meetings to accommodate the schedule of the
one partner), the appropriate response is “To a large extent.” However, if the challenges with the one
partner had no impact on your ability to engage and organize the remaining partners, a response of “to a
small extent” would be more appropriate.
For each item in Q3 for which you selected “To a large extent” or “To a moderate extent,” you
will be asked to answer the following question: Why did this occur—and what steps were taken to
overcome this challenge? You will be prompted to provide a brief narrative (i.e., one or two paragraphs)
in each instance and you should make your best effort to address the question completely. This answer
need not be lengthy, but should provide your program officer with an understanding of the type of
challenge encountered and what steps were taken during the previous school year to address it.
In some cases, you may know there was a challenge, but are unclear about the underlying
cause. For example, you may know that you often had to reschedule meetings because of
one of your K-12 partners, but may not be sure whether this was because the partner lacked
time (3b) or had a low level of commitment (3e). Take your best guess as to what was the
underlying cause of the challenge. In your answer about why this occurred (assuming the
challenge had a moderate or large impact), you may wish to explain that you are not sure
what the exact cause of the challenge was.
In some cases, you may believe that a combination of factors contributed to the same
challenge. For example, you may have had to reschedule meetings often because one of
your K-12 partners lacked time (3b) and another K-12 partner had a low level of
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commitment (3e). In this situation, please report both challenges. In your answer about
why this occurred (assuming these challenges had a moderate or large impact), you may
wish to explain this joint effect in more detail. In addition, you may find it helpful to copy
all or most of your answer to the first response in completing the second.
Q4: What lessons have you learned regarding efforts to engage partners that would be of
use to other MSP projects? Q4 is an opportunity to present lessons learned about engaging and
organizing partners that others may benefit from that have not been captured in your answers from
preceding questions. For example, you may have done something innovative that got your partners
engaged at the start of the MSP program.
Information about Evidence-based Design
Conducted During the Previous School Year
and
Outcomes
Activities
Q2: To what extent did each of the following hinder your efforts to make use of data to
assess the implementation and impact of your MSP during the previous school year? This item is
designed to obtain information about challenges that your project faced during the previous school year in
obtaining data about the implementation and impact of your MSP. Once again, NSF encourages candor in
your response to this question. Valuable lessons learned on a project are often the result of unanticipated
or unavoidable events. Describing your project’s experiences in resolving these challenges will help NSF
staff provide assistance to other projects that are having similar difficulties.
For Q2, consider the collective effect of the specified challenge on your ability to make use of
data to assess the implementation and impact of your MSP. For example, for Q2b, obtaining data about
participating teachers from some schools may be difficult, while it is easy to obtain data from others. If
you were never able to get the necessary data for several large school districts, this may have had a large
or moderate impact on your ability to assess the implementation and impact of your MSP, even though
the remaining school districts provided data on time.
For each item for which you select “To a large extent” or “To a moderate extent,” you will be
asked to answer the following question: Why did this occur—and what steps were taken to overcome this
challenge? You will be prompted to provide a brief narrative (i.e., a paragraph) in each instance, and you
should make your best effort to address the question completely. This answer need not be lengthy, but
should provide your program officers an understanding of the type of challenge encountered and what
steps were taken during the previous school year to address that challenge.
Q3: What lessons have you learned regarding efforts to collect and use data that would be
of value to other MSP projects? Q3 is an opportunity to present lessons learned about collecting and
using data that other MSP programs may benefit from that have not been captured in your answers to the
preceding questions. For example, you might want to explain procedures that were particularly effective
in getting schools to cooperate, or you might want to describe an innovative way of collecting and/or
analyzing data.
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Information about Teacher Quality, Quantity and Diversity Activities
Conducted during the Previous School Year
Q1: Using the table below, identify the pre-service recruitment and preparation activities
and the in-service retention/enhancement activities that were under development or delivered by
your MSP during the previous school year. Q1 asks for the identification of MSP activities that were
in place or under development during the previous school year (approximately September 1 of one year to
August 31 of the next). Response options include “Yes,” “No, but activity is under consideration for
future years” and “No.”
If the listed activity was under development OR delivered during the previous school year,
the appropriate response option would be Yes.
If you are considering an activity for possible development in the future or have decided to
implement the activity in the future, but have not actually started development, select No,
but activity is under consideration for future years.
If neither of these options is correct (i.e., you currently have no plans to conduct a given
activity), select No.
In completing this section, consider the activities of all your partners. For example, even if only
one of your IHE partners is providing scholarships to undergraduate students as an MSP activity, select
Yes as the response option. This is the appropriate response whether or not other partners are considering
development of such a program. If no partners are developing or delivering the activity, but one or more
partners is considering development, answer, No, but activity is under consideration for future years.
In some cases, a particular activity may appear to fit into more than one of the categories listed.
For example, an MSP may have used STEM undergraduates to provide presentations at career fairs for K12 students. This activity fits under both “(d) Invite STEM undergraduate/graduate students to help at (or
participate in) K-12 special events” and “(f) Conduct presentations at career fairs” under pre-service
recruitment activities. Please mark Yes for both of the activities listed. You may describe the activity
when asked for a description of the first listed activity and then cut and paste this information when asked
for the description of the second listed activity.
For each activity that was being developed or delivered, you will be required to provide further
information. You will be asked to provide a brief description of the overall purpose and scope of this
activity to enable program officers to provide stakeholders with narrative summaries of the range of
activities that MSPs are using to enhance teacher quantity, quality, and diversity. The following provides
an example of the type of narrative that might be provided for career fairs:
This career fair is a collaborative program by IHE STEM and education
faculty, graduate and undergraduate students at XXX and YYY
Universities, and K-12 science and math teachers at ABC school. It
provides 11th and 12th grade students with information about teaching
careers. The goal of this activity is to provide students with an
understanding of the rewards of a career in science and math education
and the steps that they need to take to become qualified for such a
career. The purposes of this activity are to (1) recruit K-12 students into
the Schools of Education at XXX and YYY; (2) recruit STEM majors at
XXX and YYY into teaching programs; (3) encourage current students in
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the Schools of Education at XXX and YYY to remain in their programs;
and (4) encourage K-12 science and math teachers to remain in their
positions. A typical career fair lasts for approximately three hours.
During the first hour and a half, formal presentations are made by IHE
faculty and graduate students and K-12 teachers. During the next hour
and a half, students have an opportunity to meet informally with
presenters and with undergraduate students in the School of Education
at XXX and YYY.
For each activity, you will also be asked to provide a brief description of design and
implementation efforts that occurred during the previous school year. The purpose is to inform your
program officer of progress made during the previous school year on this specific activity. The following
is an example of the type of narrative that might be provided for career fairs:
During the last year, a total of four career fairs were held in three school
districts. On average, two IHE STEM faculty, four education faculty, five
graduate students, six undergraduate students, and four K-12 teachers
met twice prior to the career fair to plan each fair and subsequently
participated in the fair. In addition, a coordinator from one of the IHE
participants spent approximately 20 hours working with the K-12
schools on logistics for the career fair. During the course of the year, 40
persons were involved in planning and participating in the fair. A total of
200 students attended the four career fairs.
You will also be asked, “Which of the following MSP participants were responsible for designing
and/or delivering this activity during the previous school year?” Only those participants involved in
designing/delivering activities should be included in the response to this item. Recipients of MSP
activities (e.g., in-service teachers attending a professional development workshop) should not be
included in the response. In completing this item, you should check all that apply. In some cases, it may
not be clear which group to check—e.g., someone may be on both the STEM and education faculty at an
IHE institution. In these cases, consider the role that the person played in designing or delivering the
activity. For example, if the person with the joint appointment was representing STEM faculty at a
meeting to design the program, classify him/her as a STEM faculty. If a person “wore two hats” in the
process, then check both boxes.
Finally, for each activity, you will be asked, “What is the focus of this activity?” In some cases,
none of the response options will apply to the activity; in this case, you should select “None of the
above.”
Information about Mathematics Challenging Courses and Curricula Activities
Conducted During the Previous School Year
This section is to be completed by projects with a mathematics focus. See “Information about
Teacher Quality, Quantity and Diversity Activities Conducted During the Previous School Year” for
further information about this section.
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Information about Science Challenging Courses and Curricula Activities
Conducted During the Previous School Year
This section is to be completed by projects with a science focus. See Information about Teacher
Quality, Quantity and Diversity Activities Conducted During the Previous School Year for further
information about this section.
Information about RETA Involvement
Q3: To what extent did each of the following hinder your ability to get involved with
RETAs during the previous year? For Q3, consider the extent to which your total involvement with
RETAs was impacted by each of the factors listed. For example, in Q3d, if you found a good match
between one or more RETAs for all of your activities that you thought could benefit from RETA
involvement, choose “Not at all,” even though there were other RETAS that did not match your needs.
For each item in which you selected “To a large extent” or “To a moderate extent,” you will be
asked to answer the following question: Why did this occur—and what steps were taken to overcome this
challenge? You will be prompted to submit an answer in each instance, and you should make your best
effort to address the question completely. This answer need not be lengthy, but should give your program
officers an understanding of the type of challenge encountered and what, if anything, you were able to do
about it. If you are unable to address the question, you should indicate so in the text box provided.
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Section 4—Information for Completing the Annual K-12
District Survey
This survey is to be completed for each core and supporting K-12 district partner that is currently
participating in the MSP Program. Some of the item responses in this survey will be used to pre-fill
subsequent year collections, thereby reducing the time it takes to complete this survey in future years.
Most pre-filled items will only need to be reviewed and, if necessary, updated.
In addition to reading this section, please review the general information provided in Sections 1
and 2 before completing this survey. You will note that only sections and questions that respondents are
likely to need specific guidance to answer correctly are included here. If you have a question about how
we are using a specific term, you may find the glossary helpful. If your specific questions are not covered,
please contact your PI.
Throughout this survey, please do not leave any of the cells blank in tables requesting numeric
entries. If the information requested is unknown, you should mark the cell with an “X” to indicate so.
Only enter “0” in a cell when it is the actual number that you wish to report for a given cell (e.g., to
report that there are no Asian math teachers at the school).
District-level Information
Q1: Indicate the number of K-12 participants in your district who were involved in the
development and/or delivery of MSP activities during the previous school year. Q1 asks about K-12
personnel who were involved in the development or delivery of MSP activities during the previous school
year (from approximately September 1 of one year through August 31 of the following year). In
completing this item, do not:
include individuals who only received MSP services; and
count participants more than once in this table.
Q2: Provide the following information about the amount of MSP-supported professional
development received by K-12 teachers and school-level administrators in your district during the
previous school year. Q2 asks about K-12 personnel who received MSP-supported professional
development services during the previous school year. Information about participation in non-MSP
professional development activities should not be included on this table.
Participants should not be counted more than once in this table. Use your best judgment in
selecting the appropriate classification for personnel who could be described in more than one category
(i.e., math OR science, teacher OR administrator, elementary OR middle school OR high school). For
ungraded schools, select the level that corresponds most closely to the grade level in which you would
expect the teacher’s students to be placed, if the students were transferred to an elementary, middle, or
high school.
The first row in the table, which requests the total number of K-12 teachers participating in
professional development at the specified school and subject level, should be equal to the sum of the six
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cells beneath it. Please fill in the appropriate totals for all of the columns, even if the number is 0. Apply
the same rules when filling out the school-level administrator portion of the table.
Q3: Provide the following information about the amount of MSP-supported professional
development received by K-12 teachers and school-level administrators in your district since the
beginning of your MSP. Q3 is similar to Q2 except that it is asking about K-12 personnel who received
MSP-supported professional development services since the start of the district’s participation in MSPsupported programs. For the first year of your project, your responses to Q2 and Q3 will be the same.
However, to fill out this table correctly in the second and subsequent years, you cannot simply add
together the figures from all of the Q2 tables you may have completed, since some individuals may have
participated in MSP-supported activities in more than one year. Consider the following example:
A teacher participates in 25 hours of MSP-supported professional development activities in
2002-03 (this person would have been counted in Q2 in the 2002-03 survey as one teacher
receiving 21-40 hours of professional development) and then participated in 60 hours of MSPsupported activities in 2003-04 (this person would have been counted in Q2 in the 2003-2004
survey as one teacher receiving 41-80 hours of professional development). In filling out Q3 for
2003-04, this teacher has received a cumulative total of 85 (i.e., 25 + 60) hours of professional
development. As such, the teacher should be counted as one teacher who has received 81-120
hours of professional development since the beginning of the MSP program.
With this in mind, we strongly recommend that the amount of professional development provided to
individual teachers be maintained on a database that tracks the following for each teacher and each MSPsponsored professional development activity:
Teacher name (or some other identifier);
Number of hours of MSP-sponsored professional development that a teacher received;
Date(s) that the professional development occurred;
School district name (for the participating teacher); and
School name (for the participating teacher).
The remaining guidelines for Q2 are applicable.
School-level Information
This section of the Primer provides general information about answering the school-level
questions. It then provides information about how to address specific items.
The Management Information System (MIS) asks you to provide a minimum amount of
information (i.e., school name, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) ID, school level, and
grade level) about ALL schools in your district that are working with the MSP program IN ANY
CAPACITY. This will provide NSF with a database of all schools that comprise the MSP universe.
After you enter the basic information about a school, you will be asked a question (Question A)
that will determine whether the school’s level of participation requires the provision of additional data
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(i.e., teacher characteristics, student characteristics, course enrollment, and student achievement). These
supplemental questions will be asked if you indicate that any of the following conditions pertain to the
school:
30 percent or more of targeted teachers participated in 30 or more hours of MSP-sponsored
activities during the previous school year;
30 percent or more of targeted students were engaged in a challenging mathematics or
science curriculum that was initiated or revised with MSP support during the previous school
year; and/or
30 percent or more of targeted students participated in a MSP-supported academic
enrichment activity during the previous school year.
For the purposes of this collection, the term "targeted" refers to those teachers and students who
were expected to be directly impacted by your MSP during the previous school year. For example, if your
project is focusing on mathematics in grades 7 and 8, you would determine if 30 percent or more of a
school's 7th and 8th grade mathematics teachers had participated in 30 or more hours of MSP-sponsored
activities in the previous school year (as opposed to 30 percent of all teachers at the school).
Please be aware that if a school meets one or more of the conditions for supplemental data
reporting in a specific year, you will also be asked to complete these supplemental items in all
future years, even if the school no longer meets any of the conditions.
In this section, we have provided instructions for all of the questions that may be asked about a
participating school. However, not all questions are asked about each school. As described above, only
a limited amount of information is requested for schools that do not have significant involvement with the
MSP. Furthermore, questions or parts of a question are not asked if they are not relevant for a given
school that does have significant involvement with the MSP. For example, if an MSP is focused only on
math, the system will not collect information about science teachers or science courses. Similarly,
questions about elementary school students are not asked if a school only serves high school students.
And, detailed information about participating schools will only be requested for those schools with
substantial program participation. If you believe that the wrong series of questions has been asked for a
given school, please let us know immediately, so that we can make any necessary modifications to the
system.
Identifying participating schools. Enter the school name and additional descriptive information
requested for each school that started participating in your MSP during the school year you are reporting
on. Include all schools in this list, even if their participation has been minimal. You will only be asked to
provide additional information about those schools that have had substantial involvement in your MSP.
After the first data collection year, descriptive information about schools that participated in preceding
years will be pre-filled, so that you will only need to make any necessary modifications to the prior year’s
descriptive information. Please be sure to check your response to items Qc-f before you click the Save &
Continue button. Returning to these items and revising your response may result in the loss of data for
that particular school.
Qb: NCES ID. Report the school’s 12 digit identification number. ID numbers can be looked up
at: http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/. Once you have found the NCES ID at this Web site, you
can cut and paste this information into Qb.
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Qc: Selecting school-level designation. Elementary, middle, high, and ungraded designations are
to be determined by the district. Please use the same classification for your school that you use in
reporting school data to NCES (see the Glossary for the NCES definitions of these terms).
Qd: Selecting grade levels. If a school is ungraded, select all of the grade levels in which you
would expect students to be placed, if they were transferred to an elementary, middle, or high
school. There are two parts to this question. Part 1 asks for all grade levels at the school; Part 2
asks for grade levels targeted by the MSP.
Qe-f: Self-contained and single subject classrooms. Depending upon your answers to the
preceding questions, you may be asked whether a school has self-contained classroom teachers
and whether the school has single subject teachers. The first of these questions is used to
determine whether some of the classrooms are self-contained classrooms, i.e., classes other than
special education classes where a single teacher teaches math and/or science plus other subjects to
one group of students, as is typically the case in elementary schools. The second question is used
to determine if the school has teachers who only teach science OR math. This information is used
to select the appropriate information to request in later sections of the survey.
Student and Teacher Characteristics. This survey includes a number of tables that obtain
counts of students or teachers with specified characteristics. Please be aware that some of these tables
request counts as of the beginning of the school year, while others ask for information at any time during
the school year. Before completing a table, please make sure that you know which type of table you are
completing and follow the appropriate instructions. For tables requesting counts at the beginning of
the school year: To be consistent with NCES standards, the preferred date for counts as of the beginning
of the school year is the school day closest to October 1. If an alternate date is preferred for some reason,
it must be within the first two months of the start of the school year, must be the same for all reported
counts, and must be the same date (or the closest school day to that date) for all reporting years.
On all tables in this section, enter an “X” in each cell where information is not currently available
(e.g., the total number of students enrolled in a course is available, but the number of students passing the
course is unknown). Use an “X” when some, but not all information on a table is obtainable. Only enter
“0” when it is the actual number that you wish to report for a given cell (e.g., to report that there are no
Asian math teachers at the school).
Race and Ethnicity. Several of the tables ask you to report the race and ethnicity of groups of
teachers and students. When reporting race and ethnicity:
To provide information about Hispanic or Latino teachers/students for whom race is not
reported or unknown, use the “Race Not Reported” row adjacent to “Hispanic or Latino.”
To provide information about those teachers/students for whom race is known, but
ethnicity is unknown, use the rows adjacent to “NOT Hispanic or Latino OR Ethnicity
NOT reported”
To provide information for those teachers/students for whom both race and ethnicity are
unknown, use the “Neither Race nor Ethnicity Reported” row.
See the glossary for race and ethnicity definitions.
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Q1: Provide the following information about the TOTAL number of teachers at the
beginning of the previous school year. Q1 consists of two sub-tables: one for gender and one for
race/ethnicity. Do not count a teacher more than once within each of the sub-tables. For example, if a
teacher teaches both math and science, count him or her as either a math or a science teacher. Use your
best judgment in selecting which is more appropriate.
Q2: Using the definition for “participating teachers” below, provide the following
information about the number of teachers that actively participated in your MSP during the
previous school year. Q2 refers to teachers participating in MSP, where participation is defined as those
teachers who have participated in 30 or more hours of MSP-sponsored activities during a given school
year. Examples include teachers who (1) developed or delivered a MSP-sponsored activity to K-12
students or other teachers, (2) participated in a MSP-sponsored effort to revise mathematics or science
curriculum, (3) received MSP-sponsored professional development, and/or (4) took part in MSP-related
learning communities.
Q2 consists of two sub-tables: one for gender and one for race/ethnicity. Do not count a teacher
more than once within each of the sub-tables. For example, if a teacher teaches both math and science,
count him or her as either a math or a science teacher. Use the same classification for this table as you
used in answering Q1. Note that teachers participating in MSP are a sub-group of all teachers, i.e., the
number of MSP participants within a category cannot be greater than the total number of teachers in that
category (as reported in Q1).
Q3: Provide the following information about student enrollment for each grade at the
beginning of the previous school year. Q3 consists of five sub-tables for each grade: one each for
gender, race/ethnicity, participation in the National School Lunch Program, special education students,
and limited English proficiency students. Do not count a student more than once within each of the subtables.
Q4: Provide student enrollment and completion data for the Level 1 math courses. Q4
consists of two sub-tables: one for gender and one for race/ethnicity. Do not count a student more than
once within a single column of a sub-table. This item will only be asked at schools with 8th grade students
who are participating in a project with a math focus.
Q5: Provide student enrollment and completion data for each of the following science
courses offered. For each of the relevant types of science courses, Q5 consists of two sub-tables: one for
gender and one for race/ethnicity. Do not count a student more than once within a single column of a subtable. This item will only be asked at schools with high school students who are participating in a project
with a science focus.
Q6: Provide student enrollment and completion data for each of the following math courses
offered. For each of the relevant types of math courses, Q6 consists of two sub-tables: one for gender
and one for race/ethnicity. Do not count a student more than once within a single column of a sub-table.
This item will only be asked at schools with high school students who are participating in a project with a
math focus.
Q7: Provide student achievement data on all statewide math and science accountability
assessments administered during the previous school year. Q7 asks for information on the results of
all statewide math and science assessment exams administered at the school during the previous school
year that report proficiency levels, regardless of whether the MSP focuses on math and/or science.
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If the state reporting system provides separate reports for regular and alternate assessments (e.g.,
special assessments for students with disabilities or limited English proficiency), please consider these
separate assessments for the purpose of this item. You will be asked to provide additional information on
each assessment. For example, if assessments in math and science were administered to all 3rd and 6th
grade students in the school, you will be asked to provide assessment information for 3rd grade math, 6th
grade math, 3rd grade science and 6th grade science. If the assessment is an end-of-course exam, you will
provide information for all students who took the exam at the end of the course, regardless of their grade
level. If the same grade-level accountability assessment is given to students in more than one grade, you
will need to enter one assessment for each grade. This information is to be provided for all students
tested, not just students of teachers who participated in MSP-supported activities.
Q7f consists of four sub-tables for each grade/assessment test: one each for gender, race/ethnicity,
special education students, and limited English proficiency students. Do not count a student more than
once within a column of a sub-table.
Note that column 2 asks for the number of students scoring at or above the proficient level and
column 3 asks for students scoring below proficient level. If the exam is graded on a pass/fail basis,
consider “pass” to be the equivalent of “at or above the proficient level” and “fail” to be “below the
proficient level.” The sum of these two numbers within a given row must equal the number in column 1—
i.e., the number of students taking the assessment.
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Section 5—Information for Completing the Annual
Institution of Higher Education (IHE) Survey
This survey is to be completed by all core and supporting institution of higher education (IHE)
partners participating in the MSP Program. Some of the item responses in this survey will be used to prefill subsequent year collections, thereby reducing the number of items and the time it takes to complete
this survey in subsequent years. Most pre-filled items will only need to be reviewed and, if necessary,
updated.
In addition to reading this section, please review the general information provided in Sections 1
and 2 before completing the survey. You will note that only sections and questions that respondents are
likely to need specific guidance to answer correctly are included here. If you have a question about how
we are using a specific term, you may find the glossary helpful. If your specific questions are not covered,
please contact the person indicated at the beginning of your survey. Not only will this help you in
providing answers that are meaningful and comparable to those submitted by other respondents, but the
questions will help us in revising this manual for use in later data collection activities.
If you wish to print completed sections of the survey for your records (without modifying the
section) you should click on “Reports,” which appears at the top of your screen.
IHE Participants in the MSP
Include in the first column only IHE individuals who participated in the development or delivery
of MSP services during the previous school year (from approximately September 1 to August 31). The
individuals reported in the first five rows of the first column are the same individuals who should be
registered to complete the IHE participant survey. Each year, each IHE partner should coordinate with
the project PI to ensure that the appropriate individuals are registered to take the participant survey.
Include in the second column those IHE individuals who received MSP services during the same
time. An individual can be included in both columns, but should not be counted more than once in a
given column. If an individual fits under more than one category (e.g., a K-12 teacher in residence who is
also a graduate student), use your best judgment to classify him or her. If you had no individuals in a
given category, please enter 0.
MSP-supported Pre-service Courses
This section asks about MSP-supported pre-service courses. To be considered an MSPsupported pre-service course, a course need not have been developed or modified in the current school
year. If MSP funds were used to develop or modify a course in previous years, and that course was taught
in the current school year, it is still considered an MSP-supported course.
Q9 (Q2 in follow-up year surveys): How many students took this course/seminar during the
previous school year? Q9 (Q2) asks for the number of students enrolled in MSP-supported courses,
disaggregated by gender and race/ethnicity. This table should include information for all students who
enrolled in the designated course at any time during the school year. This table consists of two sub-tables:
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one for gender and one for race/ethnicity. Do NOT count a student more than once within a column for
each of these sub-tables.
When reporting race and ethnicity:
To provide information about Hispanic or Latino teachers/students for whom race is not
reported or unknown, use the “Race Not Reported” row adjacent to “Hispanic or Latino.”
To provide information about those teachers/students for whom race is known, but
ethnicity is unknown, use the rows adjacent to “NOT Hispanic or Latino OR Ethnicity
NOT reported”
To provide information for those teachers/students for whom both race and ethnicity are
unknown, use the “Neither Race nor Ethnicity Reported” row.
See the glossary for race and ethnicity definitions.
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Section 6—Information for Completing the Annual IHE
Participant Survey
This survey is to be completed by all institution of higher education (IHE) STEM and Education
Department faculty and high-level administrators (e.g., dean, department chair) that are participating in
the MSP Program. For the purposes of this collection, this includes any faculty member or administrator
who was (1) directly supported by the MSP grant, and/or (2) directly participated in the development or
implementation of MSP-related activities.
Some of the item responses in this survey will be used to pre-fill subsequent year collections,
thereby reducing the time it takes to complete this survey in subsequent years. Most pre-filled items will
only need to be reviewed and, if necessary, updated.
In addition to reading this section, please review the general information provided in Sections 1
and 2 before completing the survey. You will note that only sections and questions that respondents are
likely to need specific guidance to answer correctly are included here. If you have a question about how
we are using a specific term, you may find the glossary helpful. If your specific questions are not covered,
please contact the person indicated at the beginning of your survey. Not only will this help you in
providing answers that are meaningful and comparable to those submitted by other respondents, but the
questions will help us in revising this manual for use in future data collection activities.
In order for you to log onto the MSP Management Information System (MIS), you will need a
login name and password that the PI for your MSP (or someone she/he designates) will provide to you.
Only the PI and/or designee will know which participants are associated with which login names. Neither
NSF nor Westat will obtain this information. If you lose or forget your login or password information,
please contact the person who asked you to complete the survey.
Q8 (Q5 in follow-up year surveys): Use the list below to identify your primary fields of
research and instruction during the previous school year. This item asks you to identify your primary
field of research and your primary field of instruction. If you are unsure of the appropriate field(s), please
see the Glossary.
Q14a-c (Q10a-c in follow-up year surveys): Using the table below, identify the MSP
activities that you participated in during the previous school year. This item asks for the
identification of MSP activities that you participated in designing and/or delivering during the previous
school year. In some cases, a particular activity may fit into more than one of the categories listed. For
example, you may have conducted a review of K-12 course curricula as part of an effort to align K-12
mathematics and science curricula to other courses/standards, i.e., a) and b) under 14b (10b). Please mark
Yes for both of the activities listed. You may describe your role in the activity when asked for a
description for the first listed activity and then cut and paste this information when asked for the
description of the second listed activity. Please note that revising your response to Question 12 (Q8 in
follow-up year surveys) and/or 13 (Q9 in follow-up year surveys), may clear Questions 14a-c (10ac). Please check your responses to Questions 12 (8) and 13 (9) before continuing with the survey to avoid
this problem.
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Section 7—Glossary
Administrator: See school administrator or IHE administrator.
Alternative certification program: Use the definition most appropriate for your program or institution.
American Indian or Alaska Native: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and
South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community
attachment.
Asian: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the
Indian subcontinent; for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the
Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Astronomy: One of the physical sciences concerned with understanding the material universe and its
phenomena. The following fields are among those included in this classification: laboratory astrophysics,
optical astronomy, radio astronomy, theoretical astrophysics and X-ray, gamma-ray, and neutrino
astronomy.
Atmospheric sciences: One of the environmental sciences that are concerned with the gross
nonbiological properties of the areas of the solar system that directly or indirectly affect human survival
and welfare. The following fields are among those included in this classification: aeronomy,
extraterrestrial atmospheres, meteorology, solar, and weather modification.
Beginning of school year: To be consistent with NCES standards, the preferred date for the beginning of
the school year is the school day closest to October 1. If an alternate date is preferred for some reason, it
must be within the first two months of the start of the school year, must be the same for all reported
counts, and must be the same for all reporting years.
Biological sciences: The following fields are among those included in this classification: anatomy,
biochemistry, biology, biometry and biostatistics, biophysics, botany, cell biology, entomology and
parasitology, genetics, microbiology, neuroscience (biological), nutrition, physiology, and zoology.
Black or African American: A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.
Challenging course/curriculum: To be defined by your project.
Chemistry: One of the physical sciences concerned with understanding the material universe and its
phenomena. The following fields are among those included in this classification: inorganic, organic,
organometallic, and physical.
Computer science: Employs logical reasoning with the aid of symbols and is concerned with the
development of methods of operation employing such symbols and with the application of such methods
to automated information systems. The following fields are among those included in this classification:
computer and information sciences; design, development, and application of computer capabilities to data
storage and manipulation; information sciences and systems; programming languages; and systems
analysis.
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Elementary schools: Schools with a low grade of pre-kindergarten through grade 3 and a high grade of
up to 8.
Engineer: Person employed in an engineering field (see engineering).
Engineering: Concerned with studies directed toward developing engineering principles or toward
making specific principles usable in engineering practice. The following fields are among those included
in this classification: aeronautical, astronautical, chemical, civil, electrical, mechanical, and metallurgy
and materials.
Evaluation: The systematic acquisition and assessment of information to provide useful feedback about
some activity and/or to ascribe value, worth, or merit to it based upon defined criteria.
Externship: A training program that is part of a course of study of an educational institution and is taken
in private business.
Geosciences: One of the environmental sciences that are concerned with the gross nonbiological
properties of the areas of the solar system that directly or indirectly affect human survival and welfare.
The following fields are among those included in this classification: engineering geophysics, general
geology, geodesy and gravity, geomagnetism, hydrology, inorganic geochemistry, isotopic geochemistry,
laboratory geophysics, organic geochemistry, paleomagnetism, paleontology, physical geography and
cartography, seismology, and soil sciences.
Guidance counselor: Professional staff assigned specific duties and school time for any of the following
activities in an elementary or secondary setting: counseling with students and parents, consulting with
other staff members on learning problems, evaluating student abilities, assisting students in making
educational and career choices, assisting students in personal and social development, providing referral
assistance, and/or working with other staff members in planning and conducting guidance programs for
students. Each state applies its own standards in apportioning the aggregate of guidance counselors/
directors into the elementary and secondary level components.
High schools: Have a low grade of 7 to 12 and must extend through grade 12.
Hispanic or Latino: A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other
Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
IHE: Institution of higher education.
IHE administrator: For the purposes of the IHE Survey and IHE Participant Survey, an IHE
administrator includes all high-level administrators (e.g., dean, department chair). This does not refer to
project administrative staff.
In-service (K-12) activities: Those activities taking place within or for the benefit of a K-12
school/district and its professional teaching staff. In-service activities include teacher professional
development.
Internship: A position designed to provide supervised practical experience.
K-12 teachers in residence: K-12 teachers who have a temporary position at an IHE.
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Kindergarten: A group or class that is part of a public school program and is taught during the year
preceding first grade.
LEA: Local educational agency (i.e., school district).
LEP: Limited English proficiency.
Level 1 math courses: Includes Algebra 1, Elementary, Beginning, Unified Math 1, Integrated Math 1,
Algebra 1B (second year of two-year sequence for Algebra 1), and Math B.
Limited English proficiency: Individuals who do not speak English as their primary language and who
have a limited ability to read, speak, write, or understand English can be limited English proficient or
"LEP." These individuals may be entitled to language assistance with respect to a particular type or
service, benefit, or encounter. Also referred to as “English language learner” (ELL).
Mathematical sciences: Employ logical reasoning with the aid of symbols and are concerned with the
development of methods of operation employing such symbols. The following fields are among those
included in this classification: algebra, analysis, applied mathematics, foundations and logic, geometry,
numerical analysis, statistics, and topology.
Mathematician: Person employed in a mathematical science field (see mathematical sciences).
Middle schools: Contain a low grade of 4 to 7 and a high grade ranging from 4 to 9. (A 4th grade center
would be counted as a middle school.)
MSP: Math and Science Partnership Program.
MSP liaison/coordinator: An individual maintaining communication or a connection between partner
organizations.
MSP-supported course: A course developed, modified, or enhanced using MSP funds. To be considered
an MSP-supported course, a course need not have been developed or modified in the previous school
year.
MSP-supported professional development: Professional development provided to K-12 teachers using
MSP funds.
National School Lunch Program: A student who is eligible to participate in the reduced-price or free
lunch program under the National School Lunch Act.
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of
Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific islands.
Non-academic: Refers to an individual or institution that is not affiliated with an institution of higher
education or a school/school district.
Ocean sciences: One of the environmental sciences that are concerned with the gross nonbiological
properties of the areas of the solar system that directly or indirectly affect human survival and welfare or
are concerned with life in the sea or other bodies of water. The following fields are among those included
in this classification: biological oceanography, chemical oceanography, marine geophysics, and physical
oceanography.
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Physics: One of the physical sciences concerned with understanding the material universe and its
phenomena. The following fields are among those included in this classification: acoustics, atomic and
molecular, condensed matter, elementary particle, nuclear structure, optics, and plasma.
Pre-kindergarten student: Student who is enrolled in a group or class that is part of a public school
program taught during the year or years preceding kindergarten, excluding Head Start students unless part
of an authorized public education program of a local educational agency.
Pre-kindergarten teacher: Teacher of a group or class that is part of a public school program, and which
is taught during the year or years preceding kindergarten; includes teachers of Head Start students if part
of authorized public education program of a local educational agency.
Pre-service: In general, a pre-service program is one designed to prepare undergraduate and graduate
students intending to teach. A pre-service activity refers to any IHE activity connected to the teacher
training process. IHEs differ in exactly what activities this entails and respondents should use whatever
definition of pre-service is most appropriate for their institution.
Professional development: Consists of formal or informal opportunities expected to increase the
recipients’ knowledge base or improve their skills and abilities in a career.
Research: A systematic, empirical activity designed to develop or contribute to generalizeable
knowledge in a particular field.
RETA: Research, Evaluation and Technical Assistance awards.
School administrator: Staff member whose activities are concerned with directing and managing the
operation of a particular school, including principals, assistant principals, other assistants; and those who
supervise school operations, assign duties to staff members, supervise and maintain the records of the
school and coordinate school instructional activities with those of the education agency, including
department chairpersons.
School district: An educational agency or administrative unit that operates under a public board of
education.
Science: Includes earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences; agricultural sciences; biological sciences; or
computer sciences.
Scientist: Person employed in a science field (see science).
Secondary education: The general level of instruction classified by state and local practice as secondary
and composed of any span of grades beginning with the next grade following the elementary grades and
ending with or below grade 12.
Self-contained classroom teacher: A teacher who provides instruction to one group of students in many
or all subject areas.
Special education: A student receiving instruction using curriculum, materials or instruction adapted to
their needs for any of the following: autism, deaf-blindness, developmental delay, hearing impairment,
mental retardation, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, serious emotional disturbance, specific
learning disability, speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, visually impairment, and other
health impairments.
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STEM: Science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Ungraded: Programs or schools to which students are assigned without standard grade-level
designations, e.g., first grade, second grade. Classes that combine grades, such as a fourth-fifth
combination class, are not ungraded. Students should be counted in the grades to which they are assigned
within that class.
White: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North
Africa.
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Primer for the
MSP Management Information System
Institute Projects
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Section 1—Overview
Overview of the Math and Science Partnership (MSP) Program
The 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 both raise the achievement levels of all students and significantly reduce
achievement gaps in the mathematics and science performance of diverse student populations. Successful
projects serve as models that can be widely replicated in educational practice to improve the mathematics
and science achievement of all the nation’s students.
The MSP program seeks to improve K-12 student achievement through a sharp focus on three
interrelated issues:
Ensuring that all students have access to, are prepared for, and are encouraged to
participate and succeed in challenging and advanced mathematics and science courses;
Enhancing the quality, quantity, and diversity of the K-12 mathematics and science teacher
workforce; and
Developing evidence-based outcomes that contribute to our understanding of how students
effectively learn mathematics and science.
MSP projects aim to address these issues by incorporating a depth and quality of creative
strategic actions that extend beyond commonplace approaches. Although all MSP projects share a focus
on the same set of fundamental issues, individual MSP projects differ in their scope and are categorized
accordingly. MSP provides awards to the following three distinct types of partnerships: 1
Comprehensive Partnerships implement change in mathematics and/or science educational
practices in both higher education institutions and in schools and school districts, resulting
in improved student achievement across the K-12 continuum.
Targeted Partnerships focus on improved K-12 student achievement in a narrower grade
range or disciplinary focus within mathematics or science.
Institute Partnerships, also referred to as Teacher Institutes for the 21st Century, focus on
the development of mathematics and science teachers as school- and district-based
intellectual leaders and master teachers.
Purpose and Structure of the Math and Science Partnership (MSP)
Management Information System (MIS)
The MSP Management Information System (MIS) is designed to obtain annual information about
each MSP-funded project, its grant recipient, partner organizations, participants, activities, and outcomes.
1
The MSP Management Information System (MIS) pertains to all three types of partnerships.
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Completed surveys will be used to assess the overall implementation of the MSP program and to monitor
the progress of individual MSP grants. Because the same data will be collected each year, the system will
allow for comparisons both within and across projects over time. Data collected through this system will
be used to provide NSF and other stakeholders (e.g., Congress) with timely information on the
implementation and impact of the overall MSP program. These data will also enable your program officer
to assess the annual progress of your project. Because these data are made available to you and your
project evaluators, your project will also be able to make use of this information for your own planning,
reporting, and evaluation efforts.
This data collection system is designed so that information can be collected in an efficient and
systematic manner. All information is collected online through a Web-based system consisting of
automatic skip patterns and internal validations. Many of the items will be answered using prelisted
response categories that allow users to choose the most appropriate response. Other questions require
brief narrative answers or explanations. Each question asked in each section must be answered
completely. After the first year, responses for some of the questions will be pre-filled with information
from the preceding year, requiring only that you review the accuracy of the information. As such, the
time it takes to complete subsequent year surveys will be reduced from what will be needed in the first
year of the collection.
For Institute projects, the system is currently composed of three surveys plus an administrative
module. 1 Surveys should be completed by the appropriate individuals, as detailed below, and are to be
completed on an annual basis throughout the life of the MSP project. The MSP MIS for Institutes projects
comprises the following surveys:
1
Annual Survey for Institute Partnership Projects. This survey collects information on
each of the project’s partner organizations (e.g., Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs),
K-12 school districts, project evaluators), the scope of the project (e.g., grade levels the
project addresses and criteria for selecting teachers) and project activities by key feature. It
also collects information about the demographic characteristics of students and
teachers/administrators enrolled in the K-12 Institute. It can be completed by the principal
investigator (PI) or someone designated by the PI. Included in the survey is an
Administrative Module that must be completed in order that IHE participants can have
access to the system to complete the survey for which they are responsible.
Annual IHE Participant Survey for Institute Projects. This survey collects information
about the characteristics and contributions of IHE faculty members and administrators who
are active participants in an Institute MSP project. Information collected includes
demographic characteristics, current fields of research and instruction, and contributions to
their MSP. The survey must be completed by each individual Institute IHE faculty member
and administrator who is directly supported by the MSP grant and/or directly participated
in the development or implementation of MSP-related activities during the previous school
year.
Annual Survey for K-12 Institute Participants. This survey collects information about
the characteristics and professional development of K-12 Institute participants. Information
collected includes participant’s current professional status, degrees and certifications
earned, leadership responsibilities, Institute and professional development activities, and
professional community building. This survey must be completed by each individual k-12
Institute participant who has completed the Initial Survey for K-12 Institute Participant, are
An additional survey, the Annual Survey for K-12 Institute Participants, will be added to the MIS in the Spring of 2005.
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active in the MSP Institute program, and whose participation is directly funded by NSF
MSP grant.
Purpose and Content of this Primer
This primer provides information about how to navigate the online system and how to respond to
individual collection items. The remainder of Section 1 provides general instructions of relevance for all
systems users. Section 2 provides information on how to navigate the online system. Sections 3, 4, and 5
provide information on each of the surveys:
If you are the PI for an Institute MSP, see Section 3 for additional context and explanation
about the administrative module and the Annual Survey for Institute Partnership
Projects.
If you are an IHE participant in an Institute MSP, see Section 4 for additional information
about the Annual IHE Participant Survey for Institute MSPs.
Section 6 is a glossary of terms used in the survey.
General Information
This section provides general information that you should become familiar with prior to
completing a survey.
Why is completing this survey important? The MSP program is one of the major educational
programs funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Although NSF expects the funded programs
to benefit from their grants, NSF’s primary goal is to identify what types of programs are most effective
in improving educational opportunities for our nation’s children. To do this, it is critical for NSF to obtain
feedback from as many program participants as possible. This information will then be used to help NSF
and others in designing future educational programs. It will also be used to help NSF comply with annual
congressional reporting requirements.
Do I need to review all the detailed instructions in this primer? Most questions in this system
should be self-explanatory. However, there are questions that include terms that need to be defined or
require additional context or explanation. Furthermore, the online instructions do not cover situations that
may be relevant to only a small number of respondents. Thus, reviewing the detailed instructions for the
survey you are completing is strongly encouraged. You should also consult the primer when you are
unsure of how to respond to a question.
What should I do when a question asks me to choose only one response and I’m not sure
which response to choose? Some of the survey questions ask you to select one response from a list.
Please read the whole list and then select the response that best answers the question. If you stop reading
when you first get to a response that seems to fit, you may miss a later response that better describes your
situation. If you really cannot decide on which of two or more responses is best, please choose one
response using whatever arbitrary means you would like.
How should I report information for a program that includes pre-kindergarten children? Some
survey questions ask for information about K-12 or K-20 programs, students, and teachers; however,
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some Cohort 1 projects did include programs addressing the needs of pre-kindergarten children. For the
purposes of this survey, please consider these teachers and students to be part of the elementary school
population.
How do you define a school year? Many questions on these surveys ask about things that
occurred during the previous school year. In order to ensure that no relevant summertime activities are
missed, please consider a given school year to include the summer months following the end of the
academic year (e.g., the 2004-05 school year refers to the period September 1, 2004, through August 31,
2005). Feel free to deviate somewhat from these exact dates if it makes sense for your project. For
example, if your school year starts in late August, you may feel that August 15, 2004, through August 14,
2005, makes more sense for you. However, please include summer months with the preceding school
year rather than including them with the following school year. The important thing is that you are
consistent from one reporting year to the next, so that information you report in one year can be
compared with that reported in other years.
Who should I contact if I have a question? On the home page of all of the surveys you will find
the name and phone number of the individual to contact for that particular survey. Questions can also be
emailed to MSPMIS@westat.com. When sending emails, in addition to the question, please be sure to
include your name and phone number, your project’s name and/or award ID number, and the survey that
you are referring to.
What happens if I don’t respond to this survey? NSF expects that all Institute Partnership
projects will fully enter data into the MSP MIS. While it is the responsibility of the PI to achieve a
response rate of 100 percent for all surveys, the system allows other appropriate individuals/institutions to
complete parts of different surveys.
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Section 2—Navigating the System
This section describes some of the technical and navigational features built into the MSP
Management Information System (MIS), as well as how to perform other basic system functions, such as
printing and resources for finding help. Additional system features that are accessible only to PIs are
discussed in Section 3.
Logging In and Passwords
To use the MSP MIS, you must have access to the Internet through a Web browser. To access this
system, type in the following Internet address:
www2.msp-mis.org
Westat will provide each PI with an initial login name and password that will allow access to the
system. After setting up login names and passwords for their IHE participants, the PIs or their designees
will be responsible for communicating these login names and passwords to the participants responsible
for completing surveys.
General Navigation
After logging in to the system, you can begin completing the survey by clicking on a section
name. All section names are listed as links in a menu on the initial screen. Except for the IHE Participant
Survey, which has only one section, this system allows you to complete the sections in whatever order
you prefer (unless information from one section is used in formulating and pre-filling the questions in
another section). After a section has been completed, a checkmark will appear next to that section name
on the initial screen.
For each individual question in the system, you are asked to provide information either through
text fields or drop-down menus, or by checking or filling in boxes, or a combination of these. After
entering and/or selecting the appropriate information for a question, click on “Save & Continue” at the
bottom of the screen. If you do not click on “Save & Continue” after answering a question, the
information you entered will be lost. Clicking on Save & Continue will automatically save the
information you have entered and will take you to the first unanswered item in the section. If, after
clicking on the Save & Continue button, you receive an error message and the information that you had
just entered is lost, clicking on your browser’s back button usually will retrieve your data. To avoid this
potential problem, we strongly recommend enabling JavaScript.
Until you do a final submit of a survey, you may, at any time, return to an item that has been
saved and revise your response. Please be aware that in some cases, when one item is linked to another,
revising one response may result in the loss of data.
On most screens in the system, a question guide appears on the left side of the screen (see the
screen shot below). This guide provides a list of all questions in the particular section of the survey you
are completing. In the question guide, a red bar with a checkmark indicates that the question has been
completed. A blue bar with an arrow indicates that you are able to respond to a particular question that
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you have not yet completed. A black bar with an “X” indicates that the question does not need to be
addressed—or that the item cannot be accessed until prior questions in that section have been completed.
In some cases when you try to save a question response, the system will alert you to a problem
with your response. This may occur, for example, because you have failed to complete a required field or
because you have entered inconsistent numbers (e.g., data that you have entered across several rows do
not sum to the total). The system message will explain what the problem is. Again, because the system
uses JavaScript to report response error, we strongly suggest having JavaScript enabled.
If you wish to modify your response to a question, you can click on the appropriate question
number in the question guide on the left hand side of the screen, modify your response, and then click
Save and Continue. Your original information will then be replaced by the new information.
You must answer questions within some of the sections in sequential order; however, you may
skip to any question you have already answered within a particular section by clicking on the appropriate
bar in the question guide. You may also access sections you have already completed and submitted by
clicking on that section’s link in the matrix on the home screen.
At any time while you are inputting information into the system, you may return to a previous
screen or question by clicking on the Back button on your Web browser.
In addition to the section links, there are several other links at the top of every screen in the
system. The following links will allow you to navigate through the system (if you click any of these links
while answering a question, you will be taken out of that question and the information you have entered
will not be saved. To return to that question, click the Back button on your browser):
Home: For surveys with multiple sections (i.e., all surveys except for the IHE participant survey),
this links back to the most recently viewed menu page. For the IHE Participant Survey, the
Home link will open the instruction page.
Glossary: An alphabetized listing of acronyms and key terms and their definitions is provided
here.
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Contact: Opens a blank email to MSPMIS@westat.com.
Help: If you have questions about the system, try this link. You can also use this link to obtain
paper copies of the survey instruments and this primer.
Sign Out: This will automatically log you out of the system and link you back to the login page.
Section Submittal
Once you have successfully completed all questions in a section, you should submit the section to
the system. At this point, the system considers the section to be completed and a check mark appears next
to the section on the menu screen. Note that until you have made a final submittal of a survey (see below),
you can still return to make additional changes to a submitted section of that survey.
Final Submittal
Once you have successfully completed all questions in all sections of the survey, the data must be
submitted to the system. A final submission of data is your last step in completing a survey. After the
final submission of a survey, access to that year’s survey will be denied. In the event that you need to
reopen the system after a final submission (e.g., to make additional changes), you must contact the person
who provided you with your login name and password and request that your survey be reopened.
Text Entry
Many screens in the system have text boxes in which you are asked to supply information in
narrative form. None of the text boxes within the system asks you to submit an exorbitant amount of
information (generally, no more than 1-2 paragraphs are requested). However, you should be prepared to
provide complete answers to all open-ended questions. Since there are no text formatting or editing tools,
such as spell check, built into the system, it may be easier for you to type your answer in a word
processing program, format and edit it, and then copy and paste it into the appropriate text box.
Numeric Entries
Do not leave any of the cells blank in tables requesting numeric entries. If the information
requested is unknown or not currently available to enter in to the system, you should mark the cell with an
“X” to indicate so. Only enter “0” when it is the actual number that you wish to report for a given
cell (e.g., to report that there are no Asian math teachers at the school).
Printing
If you have not yet completed a section, you can print out any visible Web page by clicking on
the Web print icon. Note that the information printed in this way has not necessarily been saved. PIs can
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use the “Reports” link (found in the menu on the top of the screen) in the Annual Survey for Institute
Partnership Projects to print, view and download completed sections of the survey. IHE participants
completing the Annual IHE Participant Survey for Institute Projects can print a complete copy of their
responses after the survey has been submitted to the system.
Logging Out/Saving Information
If you are unable to complete an entire section or survey at one time, you may complete part of
the section or survey by clicking on Save & Continue at the bottom of any question and then logging out
by clicking on the “Sign Out” link, which can be found at the top of any screen. This will return you to
the main login screen, which asks for the login name and password. All information entered up to that
point will be saved.
As stated above, you can complete only part of a survey, log out, and enter the system later to
complete any remaining information. When you reenter the system, you will be taken to the starting
screen for your survey. For surveys with multiple sections, this lists the section names for that survey.
When you reenter a section (or the IHE Participant Survey) you will be directed to the first question in the
section that has not yet been answered.
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Section 3—Information for Institute PIs
This section addresses three topics of relevance to MSP Institute PIs and their designees: (1)
monitoring tools that are only available to PIs and their designees, (2) the administrative module, and (3)
the Annual Survey for Institute Partnership Projects.
The administrative module and the Annual Survey for Institute Partnership Projects are to be
completed by each Institute PI. Some of the item responses in these modules will be used to pre-fill
subsequent year data collections, thereby reducing the time it takes to complete this survey in future
years. Most pre-filled items will only need to be reviewed and, if necessary, updated on an annual basis.
In addition to reading this section, please review the general information provided in Sections 1
and 2 before completing the administrative section or the survey. You will note that only sections and
questions that respondents are likely to need specific guidance to answer are included here. If you have a
question about how we are using a specific term, you may find the glossary helpful. If your specific
questions are not covered, please contact the person indicated at the beginning of your survey. Not only
will this help you in providing answers that are meaningful and comparable to those submitted by other
respondents, but the questions will help us in revising this manual for use in future data collection
activities.
At the end of this section, we have provided you with some information about capabilities that we
have built into the system to help you monitor your partners’ and IHE participants’ survey completion.
MONITORING TOOLS
PIs or their designees are responsible for monitoring the survey submissions of their IHE
participants. The system has some features to assist you in performing this task. You will be able to
determine which of your IHE participants have completed their surveys. To access individual survey
status, click on the link in the Survey Management menu on the page that appears on your home screen.
This link lists the participants in your MSP that you have indicated should be responding to the survey. If
the survey has been submitted to the system, a green checkmark will appear in the column indicating
survey status. If you or the survey respondent wishes to modify a response after final submission of a
survey to the system, you can reactivate user access by clicking the “Reopen Survey” button on this page.
Once all participant surveys have been submitted to the system, a submit to system button will appear.
This feature allows the PI to sign-off on all participant surveys. On the Survey Management menu, a
check to the left of the survey indicates that all surveys are complete and have been submitted to the
system. Please note that the check may disappear if the administrative section is revised or a survey is reopened.
If you wish to view survey information submitted (without modifying it) you should click on the
“Reports” link, which appears at the top of your screen. This will allow you to print out, view, or
download information submitted to the system by clicking the appropriate print, view, or Excel icon. You
can also activate the same functions for those sections of the Annual Survey for Institute Partnership
Projects that you have submitted.
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ADMINISTRATIVE SECTION
After the initial login (using the login name and password assigned by the Westat system
administrator), this is the first section that must be completed by the PI. This section, which can be
accessed by clicking on “Admin” in the menu on the top of the screen, consists of three lists that must be
completed as soon after the system opens as possible.
Annual Survey for Institute Projects: List of Users allows for the addition of new users for the
Annual Survey for Institute Partnership Projects (e.g., if you would like your project director and
evaluator to have access to the survey, you can create new login names and passwords for them in
this section). There is no limit to the number of users who may have access to the Annual Survey
for Institute Partnership Projects. Also, multiple users, responsible for the completion of separate
sections, may be signed into the system at the same time.
Use the Annual IHE Institute Participant Survey: List of Users to create login names and
passwords for all IHE participants. For the purposes of this collection, this includes any faculty
member or administrator who was (1) directly supported by the MSP Institute grant, and/or (2)
directly participated in the development or implementation of Institute-related activities during
the previous school year.
The Annual Survey for K-12 Institute Participants: List of Users has been pre-filled with
randomly generated login and passwords for each participant who has completed the Initial
Survey for K-12 Institute Participants. The PI or designees have the ability to change these pregenerated login and passwords if they prefer.
Please note that each active participant (IHE and K-12 Institute participants) will be required to
complete either the Annual IHE or Annual K-12 Institute Participant Survey. Please note that while
the system will track participants from year to year, the identity of the individual respondent will not
be known by NSF or Westat. Since the system will not link login names with an individual, it is
strongly recommended that you create a database that stores a list of participants associated
with specific login names and passwords so that you can follow up with participants who do not
complete their surveys in a timely manner or need to be reminded of their login information in future
collection years. Neither NSF nor Westat will be able to provide this information to you or to other
respondents in future years. You may want to consider assigning login names and passwords in such
a manner that will allow the PI (or other project staff) to easily identify the participant (e.g., use the
participant's first initial followed by the last four digits of his/her Social Security number as a login
name and/or password). You must provide all IHE and K-12 participants with their login
information.
ANNUAL SURVEY FOR INSTITUTE PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS
In addition to completing the Administrative section and monitoring IHE participants, PIs or their
designees are responsible for completing all remaining sections of the Annual Survey for Institute
Partnership Projects. Some items from these sections of the survey are described here. Once all sections
of the Annual Survey for Institute Partnership Projects are complete (including the Survey Management
section), be sure to submit the survey to NSF before the system closes.
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Information about MSP Project Scope
Q2: Which of the following constitute your Institute’s primary foci in providing teacher
leaders with professional development? Please check each of the listed response options that constitute
a major goal or focus of your Institute. Do not include those goals that are less peripheral to your
particular Institute. If a major goal of your Institute is not contained on the list, please specify it under the
“Other” category.
Q5: Using the table below, identify the criteria that you used in selecting teachers for
participation in your Institute. This question asks what criteria you use in selecting participants for
your Institute. Required criteria are those criteria that all participants must meet. Preferred criteria are
criteria that are not strictly required but are used to give some applicants preference over other applicants.
If you have more than one criterion in a given category, it is possible for one to be required and one
preferred. For example, you may require certain credentials but give preference to applicants with other
credentials. In this situation, please check “Yes – a required criterion” and explain the various criteria,
including which are required and which are preferred, when prompted to provide a brief description of the
criterion.
School-Level Information
In the first part of this section, you are asked to identify and provide basic information on each K12 school that had teachers enrolled in your MSP Institute at any time since the inception of the program.
Some of the item responses in this section will be used to pre-fill subsequent year collections, thereby
reducing the time it takes to complete this survey in future years. Most pre-filled items will only need to
be reviewed and, if necessary, updated.
Q2: NCES ID. Report the school’s 12 digit identification number. ID numbers can be looked up
at: http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/. Once you have found the NCES ID at this Web site, you can cut
and paste this information into Q2.
Q3: School level. Elementary, middle, high, and ungraded designations are to be determined by
the district. Please use the same classification for your school that you use in reporting school data to
NCES (see the Glossary for the NCES definitions of these terms).
Q4: Grade levels at this school. If a school is ungraded, select all of the grade levels in which
you would expect students to be placed, if they were transferred to an elementary, middle, or high school.
Student and Teacher Characteristics. Questions 4 and 5 in this section obtain disaggregated
counts of teachers and students. Please be aware that both of these tables request counts as of the
beginning of the school year. To be consistent with NCES standards, the preferred date for counts as of
the beginning of the school year is the school day closest to October 1. If an alternate date is preferred for
some reason, it must be within the first two months of the start of the school year, must be the same for
all reported counts, and must be the same date (or the closest school day to that date) for all reporting
years.
Race and Ethnicity. Questions 4 and 5 in this section ask you to report the race and ethnicity of
groups of teachers and students. When reporting race and ethnicity:
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To provide information about Hispanic or Latino teachers/students for whom race is not
reported or unknown, use the “Race Not Reported” row adjacent to “Hispanic or Latino.”
To provide information about those teachers/students for whom race is known, but
ethnicity is unknown, use the rows adjacent to “NOT Hispanic or Latino OR Ethnicity
NOT reported”
To provide information for those teachers/students for whom both race and ethnicity are
unknown, use the “Neither Race nor Ethnicity Reported” row.
See the glossary for race and ethnicity definitions.
Q6. Provide the following information about the total number of teachers who taught
math/science at the beginning of the previous school year. For each of the schools that have teachers
in your program, please report the total number of teachers at the school who teach math/science and
disaggregate by gender and by race/ethnicity. Do not leave any cell in this table blank. Enter an “X” in
ALL cells where information is currently not available. Only enter “0” when it is the actual number that
you wish to report for a given cell (e.g., to report that there are no Asian math teachers at the school).
Q7. Provide the following information about the total number of students that were
enrolled at the beginning of the previous school year. For each of the schools that have teachers in
your program, please report the total number of students at the school and disaggregate by gender,
race/ethnicity and other listed characteristics. Count all students in the school, even if they are not the
students of teachers in your Institute. Do not leave any cell in this table blank. Enter an “X” in ALL cells
where information is currently not available. Only enter “0” when it is the actual number that you wish to
report for a given cell (e.g., to report that there are no American Indian or Alaska Native students at the
school).
Information About Partnership-Driven Activities Conducted between
September and August of the Previous School Year
Q1: Indicate the number of IHE individuals who were involved in the development and/or
delivery of MSP Institute services between September and August of the previous school year.
Include all IHE individuals (including faculty, administrators, students, etc.) who participated in the
development and/or delivery of an MSP Institute activity regardless of the duration or intensity of
participation or the numbers of individuals served. Do not count an individual in more than one category.
If you cannot determine the number of individuals in a category, please enter “X” into the cell. If there
were no individuals in a category, please enter “0.”
Q2: Indicate the number of K-12 individuals who were involved in the development and/or
delivery of MSP Institute services between September and August of the previous school year.
Include all K-12 individuals who participated in the development and/or delivery of an MSP Institute
activity regardless of the duration or intensity of participation or the numbers of individuals served. Do
not count individuals whose only role was to be enrolled in your Institute (or a recipient of Institute
activities). Do not count an individual in more than one category. If you cannot determine the number of
individuals in a category, please enter “X” into the cell. If there were no individuals in a category, please
enter “0.”
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Q3: Indicate the number of non-academic individuals that developed and/or delivered MSP
Institute services between September and August of the previous school year. For Q3, do not
include persons affiliated with either an IHE or a K-12 institution—this information is obtained in other
questions. Do include all other individuals who participated in the development and/or delivery of an
MSP Institute activity regardless of the duration or intensity of participation or the numbers of individuals
served. Do not count an individual in more than one broad discipline (scientist, mathematician, engineer,
or other). If you know the person’s specific discipline but are uncertain about which broad discipline it
falls under, please use the Glossary for more information on which detailed fields should be included in
each broad discipline. If the Glossary does not provide adequate information for classification, it is best to
ask the participant to identify the appropriate discipline. If this is not possible, use your best judgment to
determine the most appropriate response. If you cannot determine the number of individuals in a
category, please enter “X” into the cell. If there were no individuals in a category, please enter “0.”
Q5: To what extent did each of the following hinder your efforts to engage or organize your
partners between September and August of the previous school year? This item is designed to obtain
information about challenges that your project faced during the previous school year in engaging your
MSP partners. NSF encourages candor in your response to this question. Valuable lessons learned on a
project are often the result of unanticipated or unavoidable events. Describing your project’s experiences
in resolving these challenges will help NSF staff provide assistance to other projects that are having
similar difficulties.
In addressing this item, you should consider the collective effect of the specified challenge on
your ability to engage and organize your partners. For example, Q5b asks to what extent a lack of time or
other resources among K-12 partners hindered your efforts to engage or organize your partners. If your
MSP had no challenges with most of your K-12 partners in this regard, but had sufficient trouble with one
partner that it seriously impeded your ability to get the K-12 partners engaged or organized (e.g., you
might have significantly delayed important organizational meetings to accommodate the schedule of the
one partner), the appropriate response is “To a large extent.” However, if the challenges with the one
partner had no impact on your ability to engage and organize the remaining partners, a response of “to a
small extent” would be more appropriate.
For each item in Q5 for which you selected “To a large extent” or “To a moderate extent,” you
will be asked to answer the following question: Why did this occur—and what steps were taken to
overcome this challenge? You will be prompted to provide a brief narrative (i.e., one or two paragraphs)
in each instance and you should make your best effort to address the question completely. This answer
need not be lengthy, but should provide your program officer with an understanding of the type of
challenge encountered and what steps were taken during the previous school year to address it.
In some cases, you may know there was a challenge, but are unclear about the underlying
cause. For example, you may know that you often had to reschedule meetings because of
one of your K-12 partners, but may not be sure whether this was because the partner lacked
time (5b) or had a low level of commitment (5e). Take your best guess as to what was the
underlying cause of the challenge. In your answer about why this occurred (assuming the
challenge had a moderate or large impact), you may wish to explain that you are not sure
what the exact cause of the challenge was.
In some cases, you may believe that a combination of factors contributed to the same
challenge. For example, you may have had to reschedule meetings often because one of
your K-12 partners lacked time (5b) and another K-12 partner had a low level of
commitment (5e). In this situation, please report both challenges. In your answer about
why this occurred (assuming these challenges had a moderate or large impact), you may
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wish to explain this joint effect in more detail. In addition, you may find it helpful to copy
all or most of your answer to the first response in completing the second.
Q6: What lessons have you learned regarding efforts to engage partners that would be of
use to other MSP Institute projects? Q6 is an opportunity to present lessons learned about engaging
and organizing partners that others may benefit from that have not been captured in your answers to the
preceding questions. For example, you may have done something innovative that got your partners
engaged at the start of the MSP program.
Information about Evidence-based Design and Outcomes Activities
Conducted between September and August of the Previous School Year
Q2: To what extent did each of the following hinder your efforts to make use of data to
assess the implementation and impact of your MSP Institute between September and August of the
previous school year? This item is designed to obtain information about challenges that your project
faced during the previous school year in obtaining data about the implementation and impact of your
MSP. Once again, NSF encourages candor in your response to this question. Valuable lessons learned on
a project are often the result of unanticipated or unavoidable events. Describing your project’s
experiences in resolving these challenges will help NSF staff provide assistance to other projects that are
having similar difficulties.
For Q2, consider the collective effect of the specified challenge on your ability to make use of
data to assess the implementation and impact of your MSP. For example, for Q2b, obtaining data about
participating teachers from some schools may be difficult, while it is easy to obtain data from others. If
you were never able to get the necessary data for several large school districts, this may have had a large
or moderate impact on your ability to assess the implementation and impact of your MSP, even though
the remaining school districts provided data on time.
For each item for which you select “To a large extent” or “To a moderate extent,” you will be
asked to answer the following question: Why did this occur—and what steps were taken to overcome this
challenge? You will be required to provide a brief narrative (i.e., a paragraph) in each instance, and you
should make your best effort to address the question completely. This answer need not be lengthy, but
should provide your program officers an understanding of the type of challenge encountered and what
steps were taken during the previous school year to address that challenge.
Q3: What lessons have you learned regarding efforts to collect and use data that would be
of value to other MSP Institute projects? Q3 is an opportunity to present lessons learned about
collecting and using data that other MSP programs may benefit from that have not been captured in your
answers to the preceding questions. For example, you might want to explain procedures that were
particularly effective in getting schools to cooperate, or you might want to describe an innovative way of
collecting and/or analyzing data.
Information about Institute Planning and Development Activities Conducted
between September and August of the Previous School Year
Q1: Using the table below, identify the planning and development activities of your MSP
Institute between September and August of the previous school year. Q1 asks for the identification of
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MSP Institute activities that were in place or under development between September and August of the
previous school year. Response options include “Yes,” “No, but activity is under consideration for future
years” and “No.”
If the listed activity was under development OR delivered during the previous school year,
the appropriate response option would be Yes.
If you are considering an activity for possible development in the future or have decided to
implement the activity in the future, but have not actually started development, select No,
but activity is under consideration for future years.
If neither of these options is correct (i.e., you currently have no plans to conduct a given
activity), select No.
In some cases, a particular activity may appear to fit into more than one of the categories listed.
For example, an Institute may have involved K-12 staff in developing a curriculum aligned with other
courses/standards. This activity fits under both “(d) Involve K-12 staff (e.g., superintendents, principals,
teachers) in Institute curriculum planning” and “(e) Develop curriculum aligned with other
courses/standards.” Please mark “Yes” for both of the activities listed. You may describe the activity
when asked for a description of the first listed activity and then cut and paste this information when asked
for the description of the second listed activity.
For each activity that was being developed or delivered, you will be asked to provide a brief
description (i.e., 2-3 sentences) of the purpose, scope and intensity of the activity. You will also be asked
to provide a brief description of design and implementation efforts that occurred during the previous
school year that should include information that can be used to quantify your level of effort for the
previous school year (e.g., number of workshops held, number of K-12 teachers served) if applicable.
The purpose is to inform your program officer of progress made during the previous school year on this
specific activity.
Additionally, you will also be asked, “Which of the following MSP participants were responsible
for designing and/or delivering this activity during the previous school year?” Only those participants
involved in designing/delivering activities should be included in the response to this item. Recipients of
MSP activities (e.g., in-service teachers attending a professional development workshop) should not be
included in the response. In completing this item, you should check all that apply. In some cases, it may
not be clear which group to check—e.g., someone may be on both the STEM and education faculty at an
IHE institution. In these cases, consider the role that the person played in designing or delivering the
activity. For example, if the person with the joint appointment was representing STEM faculty at a
meeting to design the program, classify him/her as a STEM faculty. If a person “wore two hats” in the
process, then check both boxes.
Information about Institute Professional Development Activities
between September and August of the Previous School Year
See Information about Institute Planning and Development Activities for further information
about this section.
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Section 4—Information for Completing the Annual IHE
Participant Survey for Institute Projects
This survey is to be completed by all institution of higher education (IHE) faculty and
administrators that are participating in MSP Institute Programs. For the purposes of this collection, this
includes any faculty member or administrator who was (1) directly supported by the MSP grant, and/or
(2) directly participated in the development or implementation of MSP-related activities.
Some of the item responses in this survey will be used to pre-fill subsequent year collections,
thereby reducing the time it takes to complete this survey in subsequent years. Most pre-filled items will
only need to be reviewed and, if necessary, updated.
In addition to reading this section, please review the general information provided in Sections 1
and 2 before completing the survey. You will note that only sections and questions that respondents are
likely to need specific guidance to answer correctly are included here. If you have a question about how
we are using a specific term, you may find the glossary helpful. If your specific questions are not covered,
please contact the person indicated at the beginning of your survey. Not only will this help you in
providing answers that are meaningful and comparable to those submitted by other respondents, but the
questions will help us in revising this manual for use in future data collection activities.
In order for you to log onto the MSP Management Information System (MIS), you will need a
login name and password that the PI for your MSP (or someone she/he designates) will provide to you.
Only the PI and/or designee will know which participants are associated with which login names. Neither
NSF nor Westat will obtain this information.
Q8: Use the list below to identify your primary fields of research and instruction during the
2004-2005 school year. Q8 asks you to identify your primary field of research and your primary field of
instruction. If you are unsure of the appropriate field(s), please see the Glossary.
Q14a-d: Using the table below, identify the MSP Institute Activities that you participated in
during the 2004-05 school year. Q14a-d ask for the identification of MSP activities that you
participated in designing and/or delivering during the previous school year. In some cases, a particular
activity may fit into more than one of the categories listed. For example, you may have conducted a
course designed to increase teachers’ mathematical content and pedagogical knowledge. This activity fits
under both “a) Teach courses with K-12 teachers that increase mathematical or science content
knowledge” and “b) Teach courses with K-12 teachers that increase pedagogical knowledge” in Question
14b. Please mark Yes for both of the activities listed. You may describe the activity when asked for a
description of the first listed activity and then cut and paste this information when asked for the
description of the second listed activity. Please note that revising your response to Question 12 and/or
13, may clear Questions 14a-d. Please check your responses to Questions 12 and 13 before continuing
with the survey to avoid this problem.
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Section 5—Information for Completing the Annual Survey
for K-12 Institute Participants
This survey is for all K-12 teachers and administrators participating in MSP Institute Programs
who have completed the Initial Survey for K-12 Institute Participants during their first year of
participation. For the purpose of this collection, this includes any Institute participant who was directly
supported by the NSF MSP grant.
Some of the item responses in this survey will be pre-filled with responses provided from the
Initial Survey for K-12 Institute Participants, thereby reducing the time it takes to complete this survey in
subsequent years. Most pre-filled items will only need to be reviewed and, if necessary, updated.
In addition to reading this section, please review the general information provided in Sections 1
and 2 before completing the survey. If you have a question about how we are using a specific term, you
may find the glossary helpful. If you have a specific question, please contact the person indicated at the
beginning of your survey. Not only will this help you in providing answers that are meaningful and
comparable to those submitted by other respondents, but the questions will help us in revising this manual
for use in future data collection activities.
In order for you to log onto the MSP Management Information System (MIS), you will need a
login name and password that the PI for your MSP (or someone she/he designates) will provide to you.
Only the PI and/or designee will know which participants are associated with which login names. Neither
NSF nor Westat will obtain this information.
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Section 6—Glossary
Active K-12 Institute Participant: All K-12 Institute participants who are actively working towards
program completion or have successfully completed program requirements are “active.” Those
participants who have prematurely left the Institute program are considered “Not Active.”
Administrator: See school administrator.
Alternative certification program: Use the definition most appropriate for your program or institution.
American Indian or Alaska Native: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and
South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community
attachment.
Asian: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the
Indian subcontinent; for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the
Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Astronomy: One of the physical sciences concerned with understanding the material universe and its
phenomena. The following fields are among those included in this classification: laboratory astrophysics,
optical astronomy, radio astronomy, theoretical astrophysics and X-ray, gamma-ray, and neutrino
astronomy.
Atmospheric sciences: One of the environmental sciences that are concerned with the gross
nonbiological properties of the areas of the solar system that directly or indirectly affect human survival
and welfare. The following fields are among those included in this classification: aeronomy,
extraterrestrial atmospheres, meteorology, solar, and weather modification.
Beginning of school year: To be consistent with NCES standards, the preferred date for the beginning of
the school year is the school day closest to October 1. If an alternate date is preferred for some reason, it
must be within the first two months of the start of the school year, must be the same for all reported
counts, and must be the same for all reporting years.
Biological sciences: The following fields are among those included in this classification: anatomy,
biochemistry, biology, biometry and biostatistics, biophysics, botany, cell biology, entomology and
parasitology, genetics, microbiology, neuroscience (biological), nutrition, physiology, and zoology.
Black or African American: A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.
Challenging course/curriculum: To be defined by your project.
Chemistry: One of the physical sciences concerned with understanding the material universe and its
phenomena. The following fields are among those included in this classification: inorganic, organic,
organometallic, and physical.
Computer science: Employs logical reasoning with the aid of symbols and is concerned with the
development of methods of operation employing such symbols and with the application of such methods
to automated information systems. The following fields are among those included in this classification:
computer and information sciences; design, development, and application of computer capabilities to data
- 19 -
storage and manipulation; information sciences and systems; programming languages; and systems
analysis.
Elementary schools: Schools with a low grade of pre-kindergarten through grade 3 and a high grade of
up to 8.
Engineer: Person employed in an engineering field (see engineering).
Engineering: Concerned with studies directed toward developing engineering principles or toward
making specific principles usable in engineering practice. The following fields are among those included
in this classification: aeronautical, astronautical, chemical, civil, electrical, mechanical, and metallurgy
and materials.
Evaluation: The systematic acquisition and assessment of information to provide useful feedback about
some activity and/or to ascribe value, worth, or merit to it based upon defined criteria.
Externship: A training program that is part of a course of study of an educational institution and is taken
in private business.
Geosciences: One of the environmental sciences that are concerned with the gross nonbiological
properties of the areas of the solar system that directly or indirectly affect human survival and welfare.
The following fields are among those included in this classification: engineering geophysics, general
geology, geodesy and gravity, geomagnetism, hydrology, inorganic geochemistry, isotopic geochemistry,
laboratory geophysics, organic geochemistry, paleomagnetism, paleontology, physical geography and
cartography, seismology, and soil sciences.
Guidance counselor: Professional staff assigned specific duties and school time for any of the following
activities in an elementary or secondary setting: counseling with students and parents, consulting with
other staff members on learning problems, evaluating student abilities, assisting students in making
educational and career choices, assisting students in personal and social development, providing referral
assistance, and/or working with other staff members in planning and conducting guidance programs for
students. Each state applies its own standards in apportioning the aggregate of guidance counselors/
directors into the elementary and secondary level components.
High schools: Have a low grade of 7 to 12 and must extend through grade 12.
Hispanic or Latino: A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other
Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
IHE: Institution of higher education.
In-service (K-12) activities: Those activities taking place within or for the benefit of a K-12
school/district and its professional teaching staff. In-service activities include teacher professional
development.
Internship: A position designed to provide supervised practical experience.
K-12 teachers in residence: K-12 teachers who have a temporary position at an IHE.
Kindergarten: A group or class that is part of a public school program and is taught during the year
preceding first grade.
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LEA: Local educational agency (i.e., school district).
LEP: Limited English proficiency.
Level 1 math courses: Includes Algebra 1, Elementary, Beginning, Unified Math 1, Integrated Math 1,
Algebra 1B (second year of two-year sequence for Algebra 1), and Math B.
Limited English proficiency: Individuals who do not speak English as their primary language and who
have a limited ability to read, speak, write, or understand English can be limited English proficient or
"LEP." These individuals may be entitled to language assistance with respect to a particular type or
service, benefit, or encounter. Also referred to as “English language learner” (ELL).
Mathematical sciences: Employ logical reasoning with the aid of symbols and are concerned with the
development of methods of operation employing such symbols. The following fields are among those
included in this classification: algebra, analysis, applied mathematics, foundations and logic, geometry,
numerical analysis, statistics, and topology.
Mathematician: Person employed in a mathematical science field (see mathematical sciences).
Middle schools: Contain a low grade of 4 to 7 and a high grade ranging from 4 to 9. (A 4th grade center
would be counted as a middle school.)
MSP: Math and Science Partnership Program.
MSP liaison/coordinator: An individual maintaining communication or a connection between partner
organizations.
MSP-supported course: A course developed, modified, or enhanced using MSP funds. To be considered
an MSP-supported course, a course need not have been developed or modified in the previous school
year.
MSP-supported professional development: Professional development provided to K-12 teachers using
MSP funds.
National School Lunch Program: A student who is eligible to participate in the reduced-price or free
lunch program under the National School Lunch Act.
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of
Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific islands.
Non-academic: Refers to an individual or institution that is not affiliated with an institution of higher
education or a school/school district.
Ocean sciences: One of the environmental sciences that are concerned with the gross nonbiological
properties of the areas of the solar system that directly or indirectly affect human survival and welfare or
are concerned with life in the sea or other bodies of water. The following fields are among those included
in this classification: biological oceanography, chemical oceanography, marine geophysics, and physical
oceanography.
- 21 -
Physics: One of the physical sciences concerned with understanding the material universe and its
phenomena. The following fields are among those included in this classification: acoustics, atomic and
molecular, condensed matter, elementary particle, nuclear structure, optics, and plasma.
Pre-kindergarten student: Student who is enrolled in a group or class that is part of a public school
program taught during the year or years preceding kindergarten, excluding Head Start students unless part
of an authorized public education program of a local educational agency.
Pre-kindergarten teacher: Teacher of a group or class that is part of a public school program, and which
is taught during the year or years preceding kindergarten; includes teachers of Head Start students if part
of authorized public education program of a local educational agency.
Pre-service: In general, a pre-service program is one designed to prepare undergraduate and graduate
students intending to teach. A pre-service activity refers to any IHE activity connected to the teacher
training process. IHEs differ in exactly what activities this entails and respondents should use whatever
definition of pre-service is most appropriate for their institution.
Professional development: Consists of formal or informal opportunities expected to increase the
recipients’ knowledge base or improve their skills and abilities in a career.
Research: A systematic, empirical activity designed to develop or contribute to generalizeable
knowledge in a particular field.
RETA: Research, Evaluation and Technical Assistance awards.
School administrator: Staff member whose activities are concerned with directing and managing the
operation of a particular school, including principals, assistant principals, other assistants; and those who
supervise school operations, assign duties to staff members, supervise and maintain the records of the
school and coordinate school instructional activities with those of the education agency, including
department chairpersons.
School district: An educational agency or administrative unit that operates under a public board of
education.
Science: Includes earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences; agricultural sciences; biological sciences; or
computer sciences.
Scientist: Person employed in a science field (see science).
Secondary education: The general level of instruction classified by state and local practice as secondary
and composed of any span of grades beginning with the next grade following the elementary grades and
ending with or below grade 12.
Self-contained classroom teacher: A teacher who provides instruction to one group of students in many
or all subject areas.
Special education: A student receiving instruction using curriculum, materials or instruction adapted to
their needs for any of the following: autism, deaf-blindness, developmental delay, hearing impairment,
mental retardation, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, serious emotional disturbance, specific
learning disability, speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, visually impairment, and other
health impairments.
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STEM: Science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Ungraded: Programs or schools to which students are assigned without standard grade-level
designations, e.g., first grade, second grade. Classes that combine grades, such as a fourth-fifth
combination class, are not ungraded. Students should be counted in the grades to which they are assigned
within that class.
White: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North
Africa.
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MSP MIS Primer for Phase II Projects
NSF is requesting that all MSP Phase II projects continue to provide annual data on their project partners
and project activities through the MSP MIS. Projects should continue to use the same website, login and
password information as they used to complete the MIS surveys during Phase I, allowing Westat to
collect longitudinal data that spans both phases of MSP work. The current MIS surveys should collect all
data necessary to monitor Phase II project work.
All Phase II projects should continue to complete all MIS surveys:
·
·
·
·
Annual Survey for Partnership Projects
Annual IHE Partner Survey
Annual K–12 District Survey
Annual IHE Participant Survey
Providing Phase I and Phase II Partner Information
We expect that some of your Phase I partners will continue to work as project partners during Phase II,
and others might not. You should continue to use the Admin Screen of the Annual Survey for
Partnership Projects to maintain an up-to-date list of all of your K–12 District and IHE Partners, and to
indicate whether or not each partner was active during the collection year.
·
If your project’s Phase I award and Phase II award overlap, you might have Phase I partners and
new Phase II partners active during the same collection year. All partners that were active during
the collection year—whether they were active in Phase I activities, Phase II activities, or both—
should be marked as “ACTIVE in previous school year” on the Admin Screen.
·
When Phase I partners that are not continuing into Phase II have been inactive for an entire
collection year, you should change their status on the Admin Screen to “NOT ACTIVE in
previous school year.” It is not necessary to delete these partner entries (or their login and
password information) from the Admin Screen. Partners listed as “NOT ACTIVE” will not be
required to complete partner surveys.
·
New K–12 District and IHE Partners should be added to the Admin Screen and assigned login
and password information as they become active in your MSP project.
·
You do not need to create new entries on the Admin Screen for Phase I partners that are
continuing to participate in Phase II. You should continue to use the partners’ existing records on
the Admin screen to indicate whether each partner was active in the previous school year.
Although the Admin screen does not allow you to differentiate between Phase I and Phase II partners, the
system does record each partner’s years of active participation, allowing Westat, NSF, and MSP program
evaluators to make the distinction between partners that participated in Phase I only, partners that
participated in Phase II only, and partners that participated in both phases.
1
Annual Survey for Comprehensive and Targeted Partnership Projects
Phase II projects should complete all sections of the Annual Survey for Comprehensive and Targeted
Partnership Projects. Projects that are conducting both Phase I and Phase II activities during the same
collection year should report on all project activities together within the same survey. Where available
and appropriate, you may distinguish between Phase I and Phase II activities in the text boxes. However,
not all survey questions provide text boxes. For survey questions where text boxes are not provided, we
do not expect you to distinguish between Phase I responses and Phase II responses; we expect you to
report on all activities together.
Annual IHE Partner Survey
All IHE Partners that were active project partners during the current collection year—whether active in
Phase I or Phase II—should complete an IHE Partner Survey. If the IHE Partner participated in both
Phase I and Phase II activities during the same collection year, the Partner should report on all
participants and activities within the same survey.
IHE Participants in the MSP
IHE Partners are asked to indicate the number of IHE individuals who were: a) involved in the
development and/or delivery of MSP activities during the collection year, and b) recipients of MSP
activities during the collection year.
·
IHE Partners should report all IHE individuals involved in the development and/or delivery of
Phase I or Phase II activities during the collection year. During overlap years, count all IHE
individuals involved in development and/or delivery of all MSP activities – whether they were
involved in activities for Phase I, Phase II, or both. If an individual was involved in the delivery
of Phase I activities, and also involved in the development of Phase II activities, this individual
should be counted only once.
·
IHE Partners should report all IHE individuals who received services or support through MSP
activities during the collection year. During overlap years, count all IHE individuals who were
recipients of all MSP activities – whether they were recipients of Phase I activities, Phase II
activities, or both. If an individual was a recipient of Phase I activities, and also Phase II
activities, this individual should be counted only once.
MSP-Supported Pre-Service Courses
Active IHE Partners should continue to report enrollment data for MSP-supported pre-service courses that
were developed or modified under Phase I funding for as long as the IHE Partner is active in the project.
IHE Partners will also be asked to provide enrollment data for courses developed or modified with MSP
support during Phase II.
2
Annual K–12 District Survey
All K–12 District Partners that were active project partners during the current collection year—whether
active in Phase I or Phase II—should complete a K–12 District Survey. K–12 District Partners who were
active in both Phase I and Phase II activities should complete only one K–12 District Survey that covers
both phases.
District-Level Information
The K–12 District Survey asks three questions at the district-level.
Question 1: Indicate the number of K–12 participants involved in the development and/or delivery of
MSP activities during the collection year.
·
Districts should report all K–12 participants involved in the development and/or delivery of Phase
I or Phase II activities during the collection year. During overlap years, count all K–12
participants involved in development and/or delivery of all MSP activities – whether they were
involved in activities for Phase I, Phase II, or both. If a participant was involved in the delivery
of Phase I activities, and also involved in the development of Phase II activities, this participant
should be counted only once.
Question 2: Provide the following information about the amount of MSP–supported professional
development received by K–12 teachers and school-level administrators during the collection year.
·
Districts should report all K–12 teachers and school-level administrators who received MSP–
supported professional development during the collection year. During overlap years, count all
K–12 recipients together – whether they received professional development through Phase I
activities, Phase II activities, or both. If a recipient received professional development from both
Phase I and Phase II activities, this participant should be counted only once.
·
For teachers and administrators receiving professional development through both Phase I and
Phase II activities during the collection year, report the teacher’s/administrator’s total combined
hours of professional development during the collection year (Phase I hours plus Phase II hours).
Question 3: Provide the following information about the amount of MSP–supported professional
development received by K–12 teachers and school–level administrators since the beginning of your
MSP.
·
Districts should report all K–12 teachers and school–level administrators who have received
MSP–supported professional development since the beginning of MSP Phase I. Districts should
continue to report all Phase I recipients in this count, even if the recipients no longer participate in
Phase II. If a recipient received professional development from both Phase I and Phase II
activities, this participant should be counted only once.
·
For teachers and administrators receiving professional development through both Phase I and
Phase II activities, report the teacher’s/administrator’s total combined hours of professional
development since the beginning of Phase I (Phase I hours plus Phase II hours).
3
School-Level Information
Within each K–12 District Survey, active districts are asked to report on schools that participated in the
MSP project. For each school, the district completes the School-Level Information section of the survey.
We expect that your project’s participating schools might fall into three categories: schools participating
in both Phase I and Phase II (continuation schools), schools participating in Phase II only, and schools
that participated in Phase I only. See the following bullets for the requirements on how each type of
school should complete the School-Level Information section:
·
Schools participating in both Phase I and Phase II (continuation schools): Continuation
schools should continue to complete the School-Level Information section of the K–12 District
Survey without interruption (ensuring longitudinal data for analysis). Schools that meet the
criteria for signification participation in the current collection year or a previous year will be
asked to provide in-depth school-level information (i.e., overall teacher data, teacher MSP
participation data, grade enrollment data, math and science course enrollment and completion
data, math and science assessment data, and AYP data).
During overlap years – when continuation schools are participating in both Phase I and Phase II
activities – the district should report school-level information only once, and include both Phase I
and Phase II data.
·
o
School-level Information, Question d: Grade levels targeted at this school by MSP.
During overlap years, districts should report all grades targeted at this school by either
Phase I or Phase II.
o
School-level Information, Question A: Which of the following conditions apply to
this school? This question asks districts to calculate whether 30% or more of targeted
teachers or students at the school participated in, or were engaged in, MSP–supported
activities. During overlap years, this calculation should count all teachers or students
who participated in Phase I activities, Phase II activities, or both. Students or teachers
involved in both Phase I and Phase II activities should be counted only once.
o
School-level Information, Question 2: Provide the following information about the
number of teachers that actively participated in your MSP during the collection
year. During overlap years, schools that participated in both Phase I and Phase II should
report the number of teachers participating in Phase I activities, Phase II activities, or
both Phase I and Phase II activities. Teachers that participated in both Phase I and Phase
II activities should be counted only once.
Schools participating in Phase II only: New schools should be added to the K–12 District
Survey, and should complete the necessary School-Level Information section as they become
active in your MSP project.
4
·
Schools that participated in Phase I only: Schools that participated in Phase I only should
continue to complete the School-Level Information section of the K–12 District Survey through
the final year of your Phase I award.
o
This means that schools in active districts, that have met NSF’s “criteria for significant
participation” in any of their participation years, will be prompted to answer questions 18 through the end of your project’s Phase I award – even if the schools have ended their
participation in your project (i.e., overall teacher data, teacher MSP participation data,
grade enrollment data, math and science course enrollment and completion data, math
and science assessment data, and AYP data). Schools will be expected to provide these
data through the final year of your Phase I award. This has been the expectation for all
schools meeting the criteria for significant participation since the beginning of the MSP
program.
o
Once your Phase I award has ended, Phase I districts that are still participating in
Phase II will not be required to provide any data on “Phase I only” schools, even if
they met the “criteria for significant participation” at some point during Phase I.
For the 2009-2010 collection, Westat will work with each Phase II project to identify which schools fall
into each category.
Annual IHE Participant Survey
We also expect that some of your Phase I IHE participants will continue to participate in Phase II, and
others might not. You should continue to use the Admin Screen of the Annual Survey for Partnership
Projects to list all of your IHE participants, and indicate whether or not each participant was active during
the collection year. You should add any new IHE participants to the Admin Screen as they become active
in your project, and assign login and password information. It is not necessary to delete former project
participants (or their login and password information) from the Admin Screen.
All IHE participants that participated in either Phase I or Phase II activities during the collection year
should complete an IHE Participant Survey. IHE Participants who participated in both Phase I and Phase
II activities should complete only one IHE Participant Survey and should report on all activities together.
5
| File Type | application/pdf |
| Author | Sylvie Warren |
| File Modified | 2012-11-19 |
| File Created | 2012-03-14 |