Administration

The Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program is a major research and development effort that supportsinnovative partnerships to improve K-12 student achievement in mathematics and science. MSP projects areexpected to raise the achievement levels of all students and significantly reduce achievement gaps in themathematics and science performance of diverse student populations. In order to improve the mathematics andscience achievement of the Nation's students, MSP projects contribute to what is known in mathematics andscience education and serve as models that have a sufficiently strong evidence/research base to improve themathematics and science education outcomes for all students. NSF's MSP program coordinates its effort with theMathematics and Science Partnerships program of the U.S. Department of Education in the expectation thateffective innovations in mathematics and science education will be disseminated into wider practice. The twoprograms are significant components of the America COMPETES Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-69).

Through this solicitation, NSF seeks to support five types of MSP awards plus EHR-wide projects:

1. Targeted Partnerships focus on studying and solving teaching and learning issues within a specific grade range or at a critical juncture in education, and/or within a specific disciplinary focus in mathematics or the sciences;
2. Institute Partnerships – Teacher Institutes for the 21st Century focus on meeting national needs for teacher leaders/master teachers who have deep knowledge of disciplinary content for teaching and are fully prepared to be school- or district-based intellectual leaders in mathematics or the sciences;
3. MSP-Start Partnerships are for awardees new to the MSP program, especially from minority-serving institutions, community colleges and primarily undergraduate institutions, to support the necessary data analysis, project design, evaluation and team building activities needed to develop a full MSP Targeted or Institute Partnership;
4. Phase II Partnerships for prior MSP Partnership awardees focus on specific innovative areas of their work where evidence of the potential for significant positive impact is clearly documented. The intent is that focused efforts carry out the necessary research to advance knowledge and understanding in the specific area(s).
5. Research, Evaluation and Technical Assistance (RETA) projects directly support the work of the Partnerships by conducting methodologically rigorous studies of the impacts of MSP activities on student or teacher learning. Longitudinal and cross-site studies are particularly encouraged as are those that test innovative methodologies.

Questions The complete solicitation can be found at http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2009/nsf09507/nsf09507.pdf for review.

The Principle Investigator of a proposal for any of the Partnership categories – Targeted, Institute, MSP-Start or Phase II – must be a mathematician, scientist of engineering and a regular faculty member in mathematics, science or engineering department in a higher education core partner. One or more co-Principle Investigators must be representative(s) from the K-12 core partner organization(s).

ONE proposal for each Partnership category – Targeted.

As the deadline for Institute Partnerships, MSP-Start Partnerships, and Phase II Partnerships has already passed this call is for Targeted Partnerships only, due August 20, 2009 . Non-lead proposals are not limited.

Please submit the following materials electronically to limitedsub@austin.utexas.edu no later than 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 7, 2009:

1. Dean's or Dean Designate’s Letter of Nomination

2. One page maximum lay abstract describing the aims of the proposed research project.

3. The bio sketch of the UT PI

** The Associate Deans for Research should rank the proposals accordingly and submit them forward.