A key facet of President Bush's No Child Left Behind education plan and the first investment in his five-year $1 billion math and science partnership initiative, these new partnership activities are designed to enhance the performance of U.S. students in mathematics and science. Partnership projects address key contributing factors such as: too many teachers who are not fully trained to teach math and science subjects; too few students who take advanced coursework; and too few schools that offer challenging curricula and textbooks.
The new partnership program will unite teachers and administrators in K-12 schools, mathematics, science and engineering faculty in colleges and universities, and other stakeholders in K-12 education to improve student outcomes. The new projects will seek to enhance the quantity, quality and diversity of the math and science teacher workforce at a time when many teachers are retiring or otherwise leaving the profession. Designed to raise mathematics and science achievement of all students, MSP projects are also expected to reduce the well-documented achievement gaps among segments of student populations.
"These partnerships will become part of a broad national network of interconnected sites that will share successful instructional strategies, entice and train competent science and math teachers and improve learning for millions of students," said NSF Director Rita Colwell.
"One of the key outcomes of these grants will be the improved content knowledge of teachers of mathematics and science in districts across America," said U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige. "This will undoubtedly lead to improved student achievement." The seven comprehensive awards announced today total about $147 million over five years and will affect about 1.8 million students in 11 states. Comprehensive MSP projects are designed to continuously improve student achievement in math and science from the earliest grades through grade 12.
Seventeen targeted partnership grants are designed to improve achievement in specific disciplines or grade ranges.
They total about $90 million over five years and will affect about 200 school districts and some 600,000 pre-K through grade 12 students in 11 states.
Also, 12 smaller awards for capacity building projects will focus on research, evaluation and technical assistance for the MSP Learning Network. Through this vehicle, researchers and practitioners in MSP and other related projects will unite in a national effort to further develop understanding of how students best learn mathematics and science. It will also promote broad dissemination and emulation of successful strategies in educational practice.
"These partnerships will increase our nation's ability to serve all of our students well and will support the quality of our science and engineering enterprise," said Judith Ramaley, NSF's Assistant Director for Education and Human Resources.
For more information, see: http://www.nsf.gov/home/ehr/
MSP fact sheet
The Math and Science Partnership Program
The Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program is envisioned as a five-year national effort to unite the activities of higher education institutions, K-12 school systems and other partners in support of K-12 students and teachers. The program is part of President Bush's No Child Left Behind plan to strengthen and reform K-12 education. In fiscal year 2003, the president's MSP budget request amounts to $200 million for the National Science Foundation and $12.5 million for the Department of Education.
Key Features: MSP projects seek to raise the achievement of K-12 students in mathematics and science by:
- Stimulating partnerships among K-12 teachers and administrators, and higher education mathematics, science and engineering faculty, and administrators;
- Ensuring that K-12 students are prepared for, have access to, and are encouraged to participate and succeed in, challenging mathematics and science courses and curricula;
- Increasing the number, quality and diversity of K-12 teachers of mathematics and science;
- Making evidence-based contributions to the MSP Learning Network and the learning and teaching knowledge base so research findings and successful strategies can be broadly disseminated to improve educational practice; and
- Stimulating well-documented, inclusive and coordinated institutional change in both colleges and universities, and in local school districts to support improved student outcomes in mathematics and science.
Project Types in Fiscal Year 2003: In 2003 the MSP program will support the following project types: comprehensive and targeted; MSP Learning Network; and, currently under development, teacher institutes. Comprehensive awards will be funded for five years and for up to $7 million annually. Targeted awards will be directed toward specific issues in science or mathematics education, and will be funded for up to $2.5 million per year for up to five years.
The fiscal year 2003 MSP solicitation for comprehensive and targeted projects was released on September 30, 2002.
Program Characteristics: Mathematicians, scientists and engineers, particularly those who are faculty members in higher education organizations, play substantial roles in MSP projects. Their involvement in these projects distinguishes the MSP program from other efforts to improve K-12 student achievement in mathematics and science.
Additional Contact Information:
Program contact:
Deborah Crawford
703-292-8602/dcrawfor@nsf.gov