*Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the*

MATH AND SCIENCE PARTNERSHIP (MSP) -- NSF 02-061

The new MSP program has generated much enthusiasm around the country.
The official guidelines for submission of MSP proposals can be found in
the Program Solicitation NSF 02-061
([**http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/nsf02061/nsf02061.html**](http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/nsf02061/nsf02061.html)).
Step-by-step submission instructions are also available at this site.
The following questions and answers are intended to be helpful
supplements to the program guidelines, and have been generated at recent
workshops and through communications with the MSP Cognizant Program
Officers.

As additional questions are raised, please continue to review these FAQs
as they will be updated on a regular basis.

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**Question** -- Can my institution be the lead organization on proposals
for both a Comprehensive and a Targeted Award?

**Answer** -- A single institution can be the *[lead on only
one]{.underline}* proposal. The *lead* is defined as the institution
that submits the proposal, acts as the fiscal agent and is responsible
for overall management of the proposed project. An institution may
*[participate in more than one]{.underline}* partnership proposal. The
important exception is that, other than rare instances, a school
district can participate in only one partnership proposal.

**Examples** --

-   *An institution of higher education in which two departments in a
    college want to participate in separate proposals with different
    partners.* This is allowed, but the college can be the lead
    organization on only one of the proposals; the departments must
    negotiate with each other on which proposal would have their college
    as the lead. For the other proposal, the department and college
    would be a partner with some other organization acting as the lead.
    *[A cautionary note:]{.underline}* Institutional change within
    colleges and universities participating in the MSP is one of the
    expected outcomes. When there are competing efforts involving
    different portions of an institution of higher education, this often
    results in conflicts that affect the capacity to support other
    partners and result in demonstrable change.

-   *A school district would like to work on a mathematics proposal with
    one set of partners and a science one with other partners.* This is
    not permitted, as a school district must commit to only one
    proposal. It does not matter if one proposal is for a comprehensive
    award and the other is for a targeted award, or if both proposals
    are for targeted awards. NSF has not defined those potential "rare
    instances" in which a school district participates in two proposals
    -- the onus of demonstrating such an instance is on the proposers.
    *[An important point]{.underline}*: If NSF receives two proposals
    involving one district, the district will be contacted and asked to
    select in which one proposal it wishes to act as a partner with
    their participation in the other proposal being withdrawn prior to
    the review process. Depending on which entities are members in the
    second partnership, this may result in their proposal being
    withdrawn or declared ineligible for the competition.

-   *A state educational agency submits a proposal involving school
    districts and institutions of higher education.* This is allowable
    and there should be testimony from the partners that they are fully
    involved and committed in the project. For the school district
    partners, this proposal would be their single involvement in the MSP
    program except in very rare situations.

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**Question** -- Our partnership will have many partners. Should we
provide information within the body of the proposal on all partners?

**Answer** -- You should provide information on each entity that will
share in the goals, the responsibility, and the accountability, with the
identified intended institutional change for each partner.

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**Question** -- Will there be opportunities to submit proposals in two
competitions during the 2002 calendar year?

**Answer** -- It is anticipated that there will be a Fall 2002
acceptance of new proposals, pending the availability of funds. However,
the date may change to a Fall date later than October 15^th^ (the date
indicated on Solicitation NSF 02-061). Depending on the availability of
funds, it is expected that there will be additional competitions in each
Fall through 2006. *[An important point:]{.underline}* The optional
Letter of Intent that is due by March 15, 2002 is only for the proposals
that will be submitted for the first MSP competition that requires full
proposals, received through FastLane, by April 30^th^. Requirements for
future Letters of Intent or Preproposals will be announced with future
Program Announcements.

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**Question** -- Are partnerships required to connect with Centers for
Learning and Teaching?

**Answer** -- No, there is no absolute requirement but partnerships are
encouraged to collaborate with Centers that have areas of common
interest, and to be attentive to the knowledge base being developed in
these Centers and the future Science of Learning Centers. MSP projects
also are strongly encouraged to align their work with other relevant NSF
programs that are active in their regions.

**Question** -- What is the relationship of NSF's MSP program and a
similarly named program of the U.S. Department of Education (ED)?

**Answer** -- While both agencies received separate appropriations for
MSP programs in this year's federal budget, ED and NSF are collaborating
to develop a single MSP community. The guidelines for all MSP proposals
are within the Program Solicitation NSF 02-061. In the Solicitation, ED
has indicated four areas of emphasis that it anticipates supporting in
the first round of targeted awards. The legislation governing the MSP
program in the Department has a few requirements that are different from
those of NSF. The partnerships supported with ED funds must include a
state department of education, a high need school district, and an
engineering, mathematics, or science department in an institution of
higher education.

Proposers should not submit separate proposals to ED or identify that
they wish for their proposal to be funded by ED or NSF funds. All
proposals will be reviewed through the NSF review process. Proposals
that are found to be highly competitive through the peer review process,
and that match ED\'s legislative requirements, will be considered for
funding by ED. Post award, all of the grant recipients, both from NSF
and ED, will form the MSP community and will participate in all of the
grantee meetings, studies, evaluation efforts, etc.

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**Question** -- In a proposal for a Comprehensive award, do we have to
work on issues of both mathematics and science education?

**Answer** -- Yes, the work of Comprehensive awards will, over time,
deal with both disciplines, preK through 12^th^ grade. However, at any
given portion of the award's lifespan, activities may focus on a subset
of the issues related to one or the other discipline. The issues are
defined by the needs identified by the partnership. Proposals for
Comprehensive awards must provide a view of how year-to-year work will
impact learning in both disciplines within the partnership school
districts and institutions of higher education.

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**Question** -- How does the MSP differ from NSF programs of the past
decade?

**Answer** -- The MSP requires that partners, especially mathematicians,
scientists and engineers from institutions of higher education,
participate fully in the solution to preK-12 issues in mathematics and
science education. Therefore, in all cases, MSP proposals must
demonstrate commitments among school districts, institutions of higher
education, and other partners. Partnership models will be extensively
studied to learn how partners' commitments result in institutional
changes that will lead to scalability and sustainability of their
efforts. The MSP program expects to learn and share how the partnerships
contribute to a national capacity for success in educational reform.

**Question** -- What are the "challenging curricula," discussed in the
Program Solicitation, which MSP programs should utilize? What is the
expectation for inclusion of NSF-funded curricula in MSP projects?

**Answer** --There is absolutely no intent on the part of NSF to
designate or proscribe a specific curriculum in schools as curricular
decisions are viewed by NSF as a local or state decision-making process.
Therefore, the MSP is not prescriptive on the concept of "challenging
curriculum." Partnerships should evaluate the relevant literature on
high expectations for all preK-16 students and match this to local
and/or state standards. MSP projects must start with disaggregated data
indicating which students are in which courses and develop benchmarks
indicating how partnership activities will lead to all students being
engaged in challenging curricula. Students' curricular options and
assessments should parallel these benchmarks as should support of the
teacher workforce. Curricula that have been developed over the past
decade through NSF funding, as well as implementation and dissemination
centers that offer support of these curricula, are resources that MSP
projects may draw upon. Ultimately, partnerships must utilize evidence
for preK-12 student achievement in their selection of curricula for use
in schools as well as in teacher training and professional development
programs.

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**Question** -- Must all of the proposed work be new development and
design or can the work be centered on existing proven initiatives?

**Answer** -- The MSP is not meant to replace, continue or supplement
previous efforts funded under other NSF programs. A proposal for funding
through the MSP may be based on prior work that demonstrates credible
evidence of success. Beyond simply building on effective programs that
have been funded in the past, the MSP seeks to support strong
partnerships that will result in increased student achievement while
also stimulating new, innovative solutions to issues in mathematics and
science education.

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**Question** -- Does the 25:1 dollar-to-student ratio described under
Comprehensive awards also apply to Targeted awards?

**Answer** -- The budget ratio identified under the Comprehensive awards
are offered as guidelines only and indicate that the scale of the
partnership, i.e., the number of students and/or teachers impacted by
the project, is one factor in the strength of a proposal. As noted in
the Solicitation, however, this ratio is not meant to stifle creativity
or limit activities. All costs must be well-justified in the Budget
Justification. Similar issues are true for Targeted awards although the
ratio was not explicitly listed in this portion of the Program
Solicitation as the Targeted category strongly encourages innovative and
complex activities that may be costly.

**Question** -- What is a cooperative agreement (indicated in the
Solicitation under the description for Comprehensive awards)?

**Answer** -- A cooperative agreement is very similar to a contract and
includes explicit benchmarks and deliverables on a yearly basis
throughout the lifespan of an award. Cooperative agreements will be
negotiated with each partnership that receives a Comprehensive award.
This step follows the review process and commitment to accept the award
by a partnership.