MSP Policy Updates

The staff of MSPnet will continually scan for policy updates pertaining to the MSPs. Sometimes we will provide a compliation and summary of different sources, and other times we will simply provide a link to an outside source.

MSP Policy Update, 10/13/04
The Senate Appropriations Committee has recommended keeping alive the NSF MSP program, as distinct from the Department of Education's MSP program. Details below

MSP Policy Update, 7/28/04
We update you on the congressional appropriations process and the potential ramifications for NSF and the MSP program.Details below

MSP Policy Update, 4/16/04
We provide an update on the continuing debate over the future of the MSP program and the role of the NSF in K-12 education.Details below

MSP Policy Update, 2/19/04
We provide a summary to date of the implications that the President's proposed budget for FY 2005 poses for the MSP program and for NSF's education division. Details below

The AIP FYI Bulletin on K-12 Science Education
This bulletin addresses the Bush Administration's proposed phase-out of NSF's Math and Science Partnership program, the paucity of research into effective science teaching and assessment, and the impact that the NCLB requirement for science testing will have on curricula. http://www.aip.org/ enews/fyi/2004/035.html

MSP Policy update - 10/13/04

The appropriations for the National Science Foundation, including the NSF education programs, are contained in the appropriations for HUD, the Veterans Administration, and Independent Agencies. The most recent development in this connection is that the Senate Appropriations Committee has produced its recommended version of this bill, thus forwarding it to the full Senate for action. The Senate version, like the one from the House of Representatives, insists on keeping alive the NSF MSP program, as distinct from the Department of Education's MSP program. This in itself is a clear policy directive, and contradicts the Administration's request. The Senate bill includes this statement:

"[T]he Committee rejects the administration's request to transfer the Math and Science Partnership [MSP] program to the Department of Education. Current activities initiated by MSP are only beginning to provide measurable results and have yet to be ready for implementation on a nationwide basis. The MSP program is an important asset in providing improved math and science education by partnering local school districts with faculty of colleges and universities."

Sources for this note include: the FYI newsletter of AIP for Sept. 22; NSF's Congressional Update; and the Library of Congress's website tracking the status of appropriations bills: http://thomas.loc. gov/home/approp/app05.html

American Chemical Society Statement on the NSF MSP program

In past Updates, we have reported statements from NSTA and the American Institute of Physics regarding the NSF MSP program. The following is from a statement by the American Chemical Society on NSF's FY 2005 budget. It articulates ACS's understanding of the complementary relationship between NSF education projects and those of the Dept. of Education:

"NSF plays a critical role in sustaining America's technological leadership by fostering improvements in science and engineering education at the K-12, undergraduate, and graduate levels. It is alarming that the nation's growing demand for scientists and engineers is coming at a time of declining science achievement by high school students and decreasing numbers of students earning technical degrees."

"ACS strongly opposes the proposed phase-out of the NSF Math and Science Partnership program. This high quality, peer-reviewed program creates partnerships among higher education institutions and schools districts to improve K-12 teacher training and curriculum development in these subjects. It links some of the finest university researchers with school districts to seed the innovative models and tests that can then be widely disseminated across states--often through support from the Department of Education. The loss of these funds will damage the nation's ability to produce the quality students needed to enter the strategically important science and engineering workforce."
From http://www.chemistry.org/government (last known link as of June 2, 2008)

MSP Policy Update - July 28, 2004

The Congressional appropriations process grinds onward, at a pace affected by election-year distractions and the traditional summer slow-down. Congress has now adjourned until after Labor Day, but the election season will continue to affect how business gets done, and this is most significant in the area of appropriations.

Just before adjourning, the VA/HUD/Independent Agencies Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee gave final approval to its fiscal year (FY) 05 budget, which includes its recommended appropriation for the NSF. In this bill, appropriations for NSF and other independent agencies were in tensions with funding requests for the VA and HUD programs (especially veterans' health care and HUD Section 8 housing vouchers).

The news for NSF as a whole is not good, but the news for EHR is worse. NSF's overall appropriation, if this version of the bill is sustained, would be reduced by about 2% from FY 04. EHR, however, would be reduced 10.6% from FY 04 levels. Big changes include a drop in MSP funding from FY 04 from about $139 million to $82.5 million, a reduction of $56.6 million, leaving basically enough money to continue previously funded projects. Two programs were left unfunded: the Workforce for the 21st Century, and the next cohort of Science and Technology Centers.

By contrast, Informal Education would see an appropriation of $62.1 million and ATE an increase to $45.2 million. Finally, the committee recommended that funding for EPSCoR (the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) be increased within EHR (the request was for $80 million, the committee approved a final figure of $94.4 million).

This portion of the appropriations bill needs now to receive full committee approval before going to the House floor. Meanwhile, the corresponding Senate subcommittee has not yet done its work, so that "half" of the legislative process will have to wait until after Labor Day to get rolling. Then the Senate Appropriations Committee will need to pass on the final recommendation to the full Senate, and the output from that process will then be reconciled with the House bill. The Senate's opinion about these matters may be somewhat different from the House's, so the conference process may well be more unpredictable and complex than usual.

Primary sources for this article can be found at:

• http://science.nsta.org/nstaexpress/nstaexpress_2004_07_26_extra. htm
• http://www.nsf.gov/ od/lpa/congress/start.htm
• Congressional Quarterly - http://www.cq.com (for subscribers)

MSP Policy Update - April 16, 2004

The proposals for changes in the NSF MSP program continue to be debated in the Congress, in the Senate as well as the House. Reservations about the President's proposal, to phase out the NSF program, and to replace it with a competitive grant program for high school mathematics, as part of the Department of Education's MSP program, continue to be a feature of the debate. As the discussion has progressed, specific principles are being identified, whose significance reaches well beyond the MSP proposal itself, to include the role of NSF in K-12 education, and aspects of national education policy.

The National Science Board, and Senators such as Jay Rockefeller and Christopher Bond have identified several key issues that are raised bythe President's proposal. First, they argue that elementary and secondary education are important elements for the NSF's mission, and that the NSF in turn plays a key role in promoting the best math and science education at these levels, as well as at the college level.

The second point raised is that the MSPs address a hitherto missing linkage between the research community and the K-12 educational enterprise, by creating models for substantive and direct involvement of research mathematicians and scientists in K-12 reform.

Third, the NSF's competitive grant model stimulates innovation and the emergence of high-quality programs, and makes a unique contribution complementary to the formula-grant ED MSP program.

The National Science Board has issued a comprehensive statement of these points, placing them in the context of an urgent need for improvement in math/science education. Here is the text, which was signed by Board Chairman Warren M. Washington:

"Education is a core mission of the National Science Foundation (NSF). NSF not only promotes research, but also shares in the responsibility for promoting quality math and science education as intertwining objectives at all levels of education across the United States. NSF's highly competitive peer-review process is second to none for openly and objectively identifying, reviewing, selecting, funding and providing stewardship for the very best science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) proposals and programs in research and education.

"Science and mathematics competency is becoming ever more essential to individuals and nations in an increasingly global workforce and economy. STEM education is a special challenge for the highly mobile US population, because it demands a sequential, cumulative acquisition of knowledge and skills. To raise US student performance to a world-class level, all components of the US education system must achieve a consensus on a common core of mathematics and science knowledge and skills. These core competencies must be embedded consistently in instructional materials and practices everywhere and at all levels, without precluding locally held prerogatives about the content of curricula.

"The NSF's Math and Science Partnerships (MSPs) are important tools for addressing a critical - but currently very weak - link between pre-college and higher education. This major new national initiative, outlined in NSF's 2002 Authorization Act, has received strong and broad support from Congress and was signed into law by President Bush. It provides for the collaboration between pre-college and college to promote excellence in teaching and learning; therefore facilitating the transitions for students from kindergarten through the baccalaureate in STEM disciplines. The added benefit for our nation is those students who do not choose STEM careers become the informed scientifically literate voting citizens we need for the 21st Century.

"We do not have the luxury of time for further political debate on how to bring our nation's education system up to a world-class level in science and mathematics - much less to achieve world leadership in these critical competencies. NSF has the mandate, depth of experience, and well-established relationships to build the partnerships for excellence in STEM education. The Board, therefore, strongly urges that continued, full funding of the MSP Program at NSF be sustained over the long term as an essential component of a coordinated Federal effort to promote national excellence in science, mathematics and engineering."

The entire NSB statement is available here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20060930160405/http://nsf.gov/nsb/documents/2004/nsb+msp+statement2.pdf

For more information on these and other developments, see the FYI newsletter of the American Institute of Physics: http://aip.org/enews/fyi

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MSP Policy Update - February 19, 2004

With the publication of the President's proposed budget for FY 2005, there has been a lot of discussion about the implications for the MSP program (and for NSF's education division.) Scientists, mathematicians, and educators have begun clarifying and publishing their decisions, and the legislative process has begun - a process that is likely to drag on for much of the next year. Many voices will weigh in, and many proposals and counter-proposals will be floated, debated, and discarded before a final plan and budget take shape. In this space, we will provide summaries and pointers to news items and bulletins about this important policy debate, with regular updates. If you find news stories, press releases, policy analyses, or position papers that you think will be of interest, please forward them to Brian Drayton, and thanks!

The President's delivery of the FY 2005 budget is just the opening move of a complex process, with many convolutions, dead-ends, and potential surprises ahead. At present, one thing is certain: NSF expects to make all out year commitments to current MSP awardees. Furthermore, it is our understanding that the current competition is funded from the FY 2004 appropriation to NSF.

The American Institute of Physics provides basic information about the budget proposal in its FYI Bulletin #17.

For a fuller treatment of the proposal, see the NSF's Legislative and Public Policy area, including their press release.

Current debates focus on some future developments in the program: where will it be housed, and what will be the focus of future awards? Both of these questions are the subject of debate currently in the Congress. The Chronicle of Higher Education (Feb. 12, 2004) reported that the proposal to move oversight of the MSP program to ED was the subject of sharp questioning in the House Science Committee from both Democrats and Republicans. CHE quotes Rep. Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-NY) as saying, "I'm baffled as well as disturbed by the proposal to move MSP to the Department of Education," Mr. Boehlert said. "At NSF, the program is a peer-reviewed competitive effort at an agency known for peer review. The administration is proposing legislation -- unlikely-to-pass legislation -- to force the Department of Education to peer-review the program."

Education Week (Feb, 11, 2004) reports that some in the science education community are concerned because they feel that the NSF's involvement is crucial to the mission of the MSPs in creating partnerships with higher education science and math faculty.

In this article, Terrance Millar, from the University of Wisconsin, points out that the NSF is well respected for its peer-review process: "How best to raise student achievement in math and science is a problem that does not have a clear solution," he said. "That is why you want to keep your premier research- funding agency in the mix."

The article also reports concerns from science educators over the proposed future focus on secondary mathematics projects. "Should President Bush's proposal, with its emphasis on math, be successful, science will be left out of the loop, according to Gerald Wheeler, the executive director of the science teachers' association, based in Arlington, Va."