Analytic Modeling with the MSP-Management Information System
Abstract
Starting in 2002, the National Science Foundation has made 77 grants to implement its Math and Science Partnership (MSP) Program (NSF-MSP).1 Besides these 77 grants, other program activities have included an MSP-Management Information System (MSP-MIS), whose purpose is, in part, to assess the overall implementation of the MSP Program and to monitor the progress of individual MSP grants.2 Such implementation and monitoring are complex affairs because of the complexity of the MSPs grants. Each grant is a partnership, minimally involving a K-12 district and an institution of higher education (IHE). More often, however, multiple districts and multiple IHEs are engaged in a single MSP grant.The MSP-MIS collects annual data from all grantees, based on four instruments:
- K-12 District Survey;
- Survey for Partnership Projects;
- IHE survey; and IHE participant survey.
The first round of data collection started in 2004-05. The findings from this initial effort will provide early descriptions of the grantees work. The lessons learned from the initial effort also will be used to revisit the design of the MSP-MIS and its four instruments, as the experience may indicate ways in which the data collection can be streamlined or be made more cogent.