national science foundation robert noyce teacher scholarship program proposal writing webinar...
TRANSCRIPT
National Science Foundation Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program
Proposal Writing WebinarJanuary 2014
Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program
• Initiated by Act of Congress in 2002
• Reauthorized in 2007 (America COMPETES Act) and in 2010 under America COMPETES Reauthorization of Act of 2010
• To encourage talented mathematics, science, and engineering undergraduates to pursue teaching careers
• To encourage STEM professionals to become teachers
• To prepare Master Teachers
2014 Noyce Scholarship Program (NSF 14-508)
Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Track• Scholarships for undergraduate STEM majors preparing to become K12
Teachers
• Internships for freshmen and sophomores
• Stipends for STEM professionals seeking to become K12 teachers
NSF Teaching Fellowships & Master Teaching Fellowships (TF/MTF) Track• Fellowships for STEM professionals receiving teacher certification
through a master’s degree program
• Fellowships for science and math teachers preparing to become Master Teachers
2014 Noyce Scholarship Program (NSF 14-508)
Capacity Building Track
• To establish the infrastructure and partnerships for implementing a future Noyce Teacher Scholarship or NSF Teaching Fellowship (TF/MTF) project:Development of new teacher preparation programs for STEM
majors and STEM professionalsDevelopment of new programs for developing Master STEM
Teachers
• To synthesize and disseminate effective practices developed by the Noyce community
Noyce Scholarship Program Eligibility
Proposals may only be submitted by:• U.S. Universities & 2- or 4-year colleges (including
community colleges)• Nonprofit entities that have established consortia
among such IHEs
Principal Investigators:• The PI, or at least one Co-PI, must be a faculty
member in a STEM department.
Noyce Scholarship Program: Scholarship Track
To recruit undergraduate STEM majors and STEM career changers who might otherwise not have considered a career in K-12 teaching:
Summer internships for freshmen and sophomores to interest students in STEM teaching
Undergraduate Scholarships of at least $10,000 per year for up to three years beginning in junior year
Undergraduate students graduate with a degree in a STEM discipline and teacher certification and/or licensing.
One-year stipends of at least $10,000 for STEM professionals (career-changers) and post-baccalaureate students to obtain teacher certification
Noyce Scholarship Program: Scholarship Track
• Scholarship and stipend capped by cost of attendance
• Recipients commit to teaching in a high need school district for 2 years for each year of scholarship/stipend support.
• Recipients failing to meet service requirement must repay scholarship
Noyce Scholarship Program: Scholarship Track
Phase I: New awardees or new project with different focus
Phase II: For previously funded awardees -• Scholarships & Stipends: To expand and extend evaluation
efforts begun under previous award and support additional cohorts of scholarship and stipend recipients
• Monitoring and evaluation: To expand and extend evaluation efforts of previous project without support for additional cohorts.
Noyce Scholarship Program
Projects include:
• STEM faculty collaborating with Education faculty• Strong partnership with school district• Recruitment and selection strategies• Exemplary teacher preparation programs leading to certification and/or
professional development programs for Master Teaching Fellows)• Support for new teachers• Mechanism for monitoring recipients• Institutional support• Evaluation
Noyce Scholarship Program:Scholarship Track
Phase I:
• Scholarships, Stipends, Internships• Award size up to $1,200,000
• Additional $250,000 for collaboration with two-year colleges
• Duration up to 5 years• Administrative/programmatic costs may not exceed 25% of
total direct costs • 75% of total direct costs must directly support participants• Must use fully negotiated rate for indirect costs• No cost sharing
Noyce Scholarship Program: Scholarship Track
Phase II:
• Scholarships and Stipends plus longitudinal evaluation studies of previously supported cohorts of students• Award size up to $800,000; up to 5 yrs. • Up to 25% of direct costs for admin./programmatic costs)• 75% of direct costs for direct support to participants• No cost sharing
• Monitoring and Evaluation • Award size up to $300,000; up to 3 yrs. • No cost sharing
NSF Teaching Fellowships & Master Teaching Fellowships Track (TF/MTF)
NSF Teaching Fellows:STEM professionals enroll in a master’s degree program leading
to teacher certification or licensing• Receive one-year stipend of at least $10,000 while enrolled
in the Master’s degree program • Selection of Fellows based on professional achievement,
academic merit, and demonstration of advanced content knowledge in STEM
• Commit to teach for 4 years in a high need school district• Receive annual salary supplement of at least $10,000 while
fulfilling four-year teaching commitment
NSF Teaching Fellowships & Master Teaching Fellowships Track (TF/MTF)
NSF Master Teaching Fellows:• Fellowships for math and science teachers preparing to
become Master Teachers • Selection of Fellows based on professional achievement,
academic merit, demonstration of advanced content knowledge in STEM, demonstrated success in improving student achievement
• Must have Master’s degree• Commit to teach for 5 years in a high need school district• Receive annual salary supplement of at least $10,000 for 5
years plus professional development while fulfilling the teaching commitment
TF/MTF Proposals Must Include:
• A department within an IHE that provides an advanced program of study in math and science,
• A department or entity within an IHE that provides teacher preparation or a 2-year institution that offers a teacher preparation program or a dual enrollment or an articulation agreement with an IHE that credentials teachers,
• At least one high need school district and public school(s) within this district, and
• At least one nonprofit organization with the capacity and expertise to support the goals of the project.
NSF Teaching Fellowships & Master Teaching Fellowships Track (TF/MTF)
Phase I: new awardees or new projects with different focus
Phase II: For previously funded awardees:
• Fellowships: To expand and extend evaluation efforts begun under previous award and support additional cohorts of Fellows
• Monitoring and evaluation: To expand and extend evaluation efforts of previous project without support for additional cohorts.)
NSF Teaching Fellowships & Master Teaching Fellowships Track (TF/MTF)
• Award size up to $3 million over 5-6 years• Additional $250,000 for collaboration with two-year colleges
• Matching funds required: 30% of total budget for request less than $1.5 million, excluding
two-year college incentive 50% of total budget if request is $1.5 million or more, excluding two-
year college incentive At least 50% of cost share must be cash
• At least 75% of total direct costs must be for direct support to participants (stipends, salary supplements, professional development)
NSF Teaching Fellowships & Master Teaching Fellowships Track Phase II
Fellowships:
• Award size up to $1.8 million up to 5 years
• At least 75% of total direct costs must be for direct support to participants (stipends, salary supplements, professional development)
• Matching funds required: 30% of total budget for request less than $1.5 million, excluding
two-year college incentive 50% of total budget if request is $1.5 million or more, excluding
two-year college incentive At least 50% of cost share must be cash
Monitoring and Evaluation: Award size up to $300,000 up to 3 years No cost sharing
Noyce Scholarship Program: Capacity Building Track
• Award size up to $300,000; up to 2 yrs. • May include an additional $50,000 over 2 years for
collaborations between two-year and four-year institutions.
• No restriction on budget allocation (within standard NSF policies)
• No cost sharing
Preparing the Proposal
Preparing the Proposal
• Consult the Program Solicitation (NSF 14-508)• Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures
Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 14-1)
Project Summary
• Three text boxes: Overview Statement on Intellectual Merit Statement on Broader Impacts
• Proposals with special characters may upload Project Summary as a PDF document
• Text boxes must be filled out or a project summary must be uploaded or FastLane will not accept the proposal.
Project Description: Phase I Scholarship Track
• Results from relevant prior NSF support (address intellectual merit and broader impact)
• Discuss the Broader Impacts of the proposed activities• Describe:
proposed scholarship or stipend program teacher preparation program recruitment and marketing activities selection process management & administrative structure for administering
scholarship or stipend program plans to monitor & enforce compliance with the required
teaching commitment
Project Description: Phase I Scholarship Track
• Provide evidence of: infrastructure to support new teachers, collaboration between STEM & education faculty, a functioning partnership between the IHE(s) &
school districts, a commitment to making the program a central
institutional focus• Include an objective evaluation plan
Project Description: Phase II S&S
Similar to Phase I, with addition of:• Results from prior Noyce scholarship grant• Discussion of how new project builds on & expands activities
established under prior support• Plans to sustain activities after end of Phase II funding• Provide evidence of
– how the institution has made the program a central institutional focus
– impact of Noyce scholarship program on STEM departments
• Details of plan to expand & extend evaluation activities
NSF Review Criteria
• NSF Merit Review Criteria:• Intellectual Merit: Encompasses the potential to
advance knowledge• Broader Impacts: Encompasses the potential to
benefit society and contribute to the achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes
• Additional Noyce Program specific review criteria, dependent on proposal type
Review Criteria: Phase I Scholarship Proposals
• Capacity and ability of institution to effectively conduct the program
• Number and quality of students that will be served by the program
• Justification for number of students and amount of stipend & scholarship support
• Ability of the program to recruit STEM majors who would not otherwise pursue a teaching career
• Quality and feasibility of recruitment & marketing strategies• Quality of the preservice educational program
Review Criteria: Phase I Scholarship Proposals
• Extent to which STEM & education faculty are collaborating in developing & implementing the program
• Quality of the preservice student support and new teacher support infrastructure
• Extent to which the proposed strategies reflect effective practices based on research
• Degree to which the proposed programming will enable scholarship or stipend recipients to become successful mathematics & science teachers
• Feasibility & completeness of an evaluation plan that will measure the effectiveness of the proposed strategies
• Institutional support for the program and the extent to which the institution is committed to making the program a central organizational focus
• Dissemination plans
Review Criteria: Phase II S&S
• Evidence that previously funded project was consistent with the Phase I criteria
• Evidence of institution and school district support for continuing the project
• Demonstrated success of the previously funded project in terms of recruitment of STEM majors and/or STEM professionals into K-12 teaching & preparation to become effective teachers
• Evidence that the project has recruited STEM majors who would not otherwise pursue a career in teaching
• Evidence that a high quality new teacher structure is in place
Review Criteria: Phase II S&S
• Plans for advancing the work beyond the original project• Plans for conducting a longitudinal evaluation study of
previous cohorts of Noyce Scholarship and/or stipend recipients as well as evaluation and monitoring of new cohorts to address teacher and student outcome
• Evaluation plans that build on & strengthen the previous evaluation effort
• Plans for disseminating results of the evaluation studies• Plans for sustainability
Review Criteria: Phase II M&E
• Evidence that the previously funded project was consistent with the Phase I criteria
• Plans for conducting a longitudinal evaluation study of previous cohorts of Noyce Scholarship and/or stipend recipients focusing on their effectiveness as teachers, their completion of the teaching requirement, and their retention in the teaching profession.
• Evaluation plans that build on and strengthen the previous evaluation effort
• Plans for disseminating results of the evaluation studies
Project Description: TF/MTF Proposals
• Results from Prior NSF Support (intellectual merit and broader impacts)
• Discussion of Broader Impacts of proposed activities• Description of proposed Fellowship program:
For NSF Teaching Fellows Description of the Master’s degree program Evidence of an infrastructure that is supportive of new teachers
For NSF Master Teaching Fellows Description of the professional development program Evidence of an infrastructure that will support and facilitate the
Fellows’ work as Master Teachers
Project Description: TF/MTF Proposals
• Describe: Recruitment activities Selection process Management and administrative structure Cost sharing, including source and amount; enter
amount on Budget form Line M
Project Description: TF/MTF Proposals
• Describe: Plans to monitor and enforce compliance with the required teaching
commitment Plans for sustaining activities beyond NSF funding period Evaluation plan
• Provide evidence of: Collaboration between STEM faculty and education faculty Functioning partnerships between IHEs, school districts, and non-
profit organizations Commitment to make the program a central institutional focus
Review Criteria: TF/MTF Proposals
• Capacity & ability of institution to effectively conduct the program
• Number & quality of Fellows that will be served by the program
• Justification for number of Fellows served & amount of stipend & salary supplements
• Quality & feasibility of recruitment & marketing strategies
Review Criteria: TF/MTF Proposals
• Extent to which the proposed strategies reflect effective practices based on research
• Extent to which STEM & education faculty are collaborating in developing & implementing a program with curriculum based on the specialized pedagogy needed to enable teachers to effectively teach math & science & to assume leadership roles in their schools.
• Degree to which the proposed programming will enable the participants to become successful mathematics and science teachers or Master Teachers
Review Criteria: TF/MTF Proposals
• Feasibility & completeness of an objective evaluation plan that will measure the effectiveness of the proposed strategies
• Institutional support for the program & the extent to which the institution is committed to making the program a central organizational focus
• Evidence of cost sharing commitments• Plans for sustainability beyond the period of NSF funding
Review Criteria: TF/MTF Proposals
NSF Teaching Fellows only:• Ability of the program to recruit individuals who would not
otherwise pursue a career in teaching & to recruit underrepresented groups
• Quality of the Master’s degree program leading to teacher certification
• Quality of the preservice student support and new teacher support infrastructure
NSF Master Teaching Fellows only:• Quality of the professional development that will be provided
Project Description: Capacity Building Projects
• Results from Prior NSF Support: Address prior support relevant to the proposed project
• A description of the activities planned, timeline, and outcomes expected to result from the proposal.
• Plans for evaluating progress and outcomes of the project.
Review Criteria: Capacity Building Proposals
• Clarity of proposed plans and activities that will lead to a well-designed program consistent with the requirements of the Noyce Scholarship Program
• Clear statement of objectives to be completed and expected outcomes of the project.
• Evaluation plans that will measure stated objectives and outcomes.
The Process
• Proposals may be submitted to FastLane or grants.gov (Use FastLane for TF/MTF proposals)
• All proposals are peer-reviewed according to standard NSF merit review criteria
• Notification of results within six months of receipt
• Reviewers’ comments may be accessed through FastLane after final decision is made
All Proposals Must Include:
• One page Project Summary consisting of 3 sections (text boxes): Overview, Intellectual Merit and Broader Impact
• Project description (15 pages) • Must contain a separate section with a discussion of
the broader impacts of the proposed activities
• Results from Prior Support (if any) must address intellectual merit and broader impacts
All Proposals Must Include:• Budget forms and narrative for each year
– No cost sharing unless required (eg TF/MTF track)– Budget should only list personnel (PI, Co-PIs, others) who will
receive funding through the grant; other internal or external resources (not funded through the grant) that will support the project should be included in the Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources document
– Institutions must use the applicable indirect cost rate (F&A) that has been negotiated with the cognizant federal agency (except if cost sharing required in solicitation
• Biosketches for PI, Co-PIs• Current & Pending Support Forms• References
All Proposals Must Include:Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources document:
• Provides an aggregated description of the internal and external resources (both physical and personnel) that the organization and its collaborators will provide to the project.
• No reference to cost, date of acquisition, and whether the resources are currently available or would be provided upon receipt of award
• If there are no resources to describe, a statement to that effect should be included in this section of the proposal and uploaded into FastLane.
All Proposals Must Include:• In Supplementary documents section:
– Mentoring Plan for Postdoctoral Researchers (if in budget)– Data Management Plan (consult NSF Proposal & Award
Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG), NSF 14-1)
• Indicate Human Subjects status on cover sheet (pending, approved, or exempt)
Common Guidelines for Educational Research
• The Guidelines were developed to “establish cross-agency guidelines for improving the quality, coherence, and pace of knowledge development in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education” (NSF 13-126)
• The Common Guidelines (NSF 13-126): http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf13126
• Related FAQs (NSF 13-127): http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2013/nsf13127/nsf13127.jsp
NSF Proposal Writing Tips
What Makes a Proposal Competitive?
• Original ideas• Succinct, focused project plan• Realistic amount of work• Sufficient detail provided• Cost effective• High impact• Knowledge and experience of PIs• Contribution to the field• Rationale and evidence of potential effectiveness• Likelihood the project will be sustained • Solid evaluation plan
Common Weaknesses: Scholarship Track
• Proposal does not follow guidelines for Noyce Program
• Failure to indicate students will complete STEM major (not change to Science Education or Math Education major
• Little information about teacher preparation program
• Unrealistic projections
• Recruitment and selection strategies not well described
• Lack of support for new teachers
• Lack of involvement of STEM faculty (or education faculty)
• Lacks plans for monitoring compliance with teaching requirement
• Weak evaluation or lacks objective evaluator
• Does not address Prior Results or Lessons Learned
• Lacks details
Common Weaknesses of TF/MTF Proposals
• Insufficient details for preservice and induction program for Teaching Fellows and professional development program for Master Teaching Fellows
• Vague recruitment plans• Selection plans do not follow guidelines• Master Teacher roles and responsibilities not discussed• Matching funds not identified• Role of non-profit organization not clear• School district partnership not strong• Evaluation weak
Tips for Success
• Consult the Noyce program solicitation and the Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG)
• Test drive FastLane• Alert the Sponsored Research Office• Follow page and font size limits• Be aware of other projects and advances in the field• Cite the literature• Provide details• Discuss prior results• Include evaluation plan with timelines and benchmarks
Tips for Success
• Put yourself in the reviewers’ place• Consider reviewers’ comments if resubmitting proposal• Have someone else read the proposal• Spell check; grammar check• Meet deadlines• Follow NSF requirements for proposals involving Human
Subjects• Call or email NSF Program Officers
Return Without Review
• Submitted after deadline
• Fail to follow formatting (e. g. page limitation, font size, and margin limits) requirements
FastLane will not accept if:• Fail to describe mentoring activities for postdoctoral
researchers if any included in proposed budget
• Fail to include data management plan
• Fail to include complete Project Summary (3 text boxes: Overview, Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts statements)
FY 2014 Noyce Scholarship Program Deadlines
• Letters of Intent (optional): February 5, 2014
• Full Proposal Deadline: March 5, 2014
Consider serving as a reviewer
Send a letter of interest and a CV to one of the program officers or fill out the online form at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NSF_DUE_Reviewer_Info
Not ready to submit a proposal this year?
Questions?
Joan Prival
Nicole Bennett
www.nsf.gov
www.nsfnoyce.org
Contact a Noyce Program Officer: