This section provides basic information needed to initiate planning for proposal submission. Detailed NSF guidelines on proposal preparation, submission, evaluation, awards (general information and highlights), declinations, withdrawal, and required forms can be found in Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) (NSF 98-2). Single copies of this publication are available at no cost from the Forms and Publications Unit, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Room P15, Arlington, Virginia 22230; by telephone: (703) 306-1130; or via the World Wide Web: http://www.nsf.gov. These guidelines apply except where specifically modified in this program announcement.

Additional details are contained in the NSF Grant Policy Manual (GPM) (NSF 95-26), available electronically through the World Wide Web: http://www.nsf.gov, or for purchase at $21.00 from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. The GPM is not ordinarily needed to prepare a proposal. However, if a submitting organization has never received an NSF award, it is recommended that appropriate administrative officials become familiar with the NSF policies and procedures contained in this GPM as they apply to most NSF awards. Prior to receipt of an award, such institutions will be required to provide the Division of Grants and Agreements certain organizational, management, and financial information (see Chapter V of the GPM).

Preliminary Proposals

To be eligible for submission, a full proposal to any program within ESIE (with the exception of conference, planning, or Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER)) must either be 1) based on a preliminary proposal to that program and subsequent response letter from an NSF Program Officer or 2) a revision to a previously declined proposal from that program. Any exception must get prior approval from the relevant program within ESIE. [Note: Planning Grants to the ISE Program require submission of a preliminary proposal.]

Preliminary proposals should be submitted as far as possible in advance of the target dates for full proposal submission, but must be postmarked no later than the preliminary proposal submission date designated for each full proposal target date (See pg. 11). Staff reviews will be returned as expeditiously as possible, but no later than one month prior to the date for submission of a full proposal.

All preliminary proposals formatting should follow the requirements specified in the GPG, unless otherwise noted as follows.

• Single-spaced Pages.
• Top, bottom, side margins—No less than 2.5 cm.
• Type size—Must be clear and legible with no more than 12 characters per 2.5 cm if using constant spacing. No more than an average of 15 characters per 2.5 cm if using proportional spacing.
• Pages—All preliminary proposals (except those to ATE) are limited to no more than six (6) pages of narrative, including an abstract, and not more than two (2) additional pages for the vitae and budget. Pages must be numbered sequentially (preferably at the bottom), be of standard size, and conform to standard formatting instructions set in GPG (NSF 98-2). NO APPENDICES or attachments are allowed.
• Copies—Single side of page only. Submit two (2) copies of the proposal to the appropriate program with the exception of the ATE Program which requires nine (9) copies.

A Preliminary Proposal should contain the following.

• A one-page letter of transmittal which is not included in the page limit. This letter should clearly indicate the program to which the proposal is to be submitted, as well as the name and address of the PI to whom reviews should be sent. As appropriate, indicate type of project (e.g., LSC/K-8, LSCM/7-12, IMPL, ISE, PARENT, ATE (whether Center or Project)), disciplinary focus and grade level(s).
• Narrative—The narrative should begin with an abstract no longer than 100 words that describes the content and audience for the project. The narrative should address the following topics: 1) need for the project; 2) the project goals or objective; 3) the essential features of the project design or workplan describing how the project will be accomplished and the goals achieved; 4) evaluation plans (both formative evaluation to inform development of the project and summative to assess the impact of the project on the target audience); and, 5) dissemination plans.
• Budget—Preliminary proposals should provide an estimated budget for total cost to be requested from the Foundation with information, as appropriate, on salaries, equipment (where allowable), participant costs, consultant costs, travel, indirect costs, and cost share from other sources, including any partners and their contribution.
• Vitae—Preliminary proposals should provide a brief narrative description of the expertise relevant to the proposed project of key personnel (e.g., educators, researchers, evaluators) to be involved. Those vitae should be complete enough to show that the necessary expertise is available to conduct the project.

For Informal Science Education: 1) identification of the target audience(s), 2) ancillary material to be produced, 3) promotion plans, 4) plans for institutionalization of the project; and 5) linkages with formal education;

For Instructional Materials Development and Assessment: 1) a general description of the materials to be developed, including content and pedagogical characteristics, modules or comprehensive course; and 2) timeline for completion of deliverables;

For Implementation and Dissemination: 1) timeline for completion of major deliverables; and 2) project strengths in terms of content, available resources, and partnerships;

For Teacher Enhancement: 1) the project strengths in terms of content, available resources and partnerships; and 2) the project type; and

For Advanced Technological Education: 1) aspects considered innovative and most likely to produce change on a national scale, 2) partnerships—the roles of the institutions and their alliances that will participate in the full project; 3) identification of other NSF projects with which you will be interacting and describe the nature of the interaction. 4) specific plans to increase diversity within the workforce and to increase effective dialogue among faculty, teachers, industrial participants, and others.

In addition to the guidelines above, there are some special considerations and/or differences for submitting preliminary proposals for the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Program: 1) ATE preliminary proposal must use the NSF Cover Page (NSF 1207) signed by the Principal Investigators (no other institutional signatures are required); 2) a project data sheet (NSF 1295) must be submitted; 3) the budget page must show that equipment funds are matched by non-federal funds at least equal to the funds requested from NSF; 4) the vitae should be a maximum of two pages for each of the principals involved in the project (the vitae should demonstrate the necessary expertise available to the project); and, 5) ATE preliminary proposals are limited to no more than 6 single spaced (or 12 double spaced) pages plus the short abstract, the budget, the vitae and the cover page.
 
 

*NOTE: Page limitations include visual materials (e.g., charts, graphs, maps, photographs, and other pictorial presentations).
See the ‘‘Appendices’’ section, below, and indivisual Program sections for any exceptions to this limitation.
 

Submission of Preliminary Proposals.

• Preliminary proposals for ISE, IMD, TE, Parents, Implementation, and Assessment should be mailed as early as possible, but must be postmarked no later than the date specified by the program in order to be eligible for the next full proposal submission date. Two copies should be sent directly to:

‘‘Program’’ Name—[Acronym, i.e., IMD, ISE, TE,
PARENT, IMPL, ASSESS]
National Science Foundation—ESIE/EHR
4201 Wilson Boulevard—Room 885
Arlington, VA 22230

• Preliminary proposals to the ATE Program (except as identified for workshops and other special projects) should be submitted with nine copies to:

Proposal Processing Unit ATTN: EHR/DUE—ATE
PRELIM
National Science Foundation Room P 60
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230

Contents—Full proposals should contain the following information, assembled in the order indicated below. ESIE project data and summary forms are available in the GPG (NSF 98-2) and through the World Wide Web at http://www.nsf.gov.

Cover Sheet—The cover sheet must contain all requested information. One copy of the cover sheet must carry the original signature of the Principal Investigator (PI), all co-PIs, and the authorized organizational representative. If project funds are requested from another federal agency or another NSF program, it must be indicated in the upper-right-hand section. If such funds are requested subsequent to proposal submission, a letter should be sent to the relevant program in the ESIE Division, identifying the proposal by its NSF number.

The top left box must identify the special initiative or program to which the proposal is being submitted (e.g., ‘‘LSC/K-8’’ and ‘‘LSCM/7-12’’ for LSC projects; ‘‘TE’’ for non-LSC projects; ‘‘IMPL’’ for Implementation projects; ‘‘ASSESS’’ for Assessment projects; ‘‘PARENT’’ for projects on parent involvement).

Project titles help direct proposals to appropriate reviewers and communicate the nature of projects supported with NSF funds to the general public and scientific community. They should include informative key words that indicate, for example, the discipline, grade level (when relevant), target audience, and the nature of the project.

Project Summary—A one-page summary, suitable for publication, should be prepared that presents a self-contained description of the activity that would result if the proposal were funded. It should be written in the third person, in the present tense, and include an indication of the need being addressed, a statement of objectives, methods to be employed, potential contribution to the advancement of knowledge, and a description of the products or outcomes resulting from the project. It should be informative to other persons working in the same or related fields and, as much as possible, understandable to a scientifically or technically literate lay reader.

Project Data—This information is primarily used to communicate potential project impact and general project characteristics, as well as to direct proposals to appropriate reviewers.

Project Narrative (including results from prior NSF support)— The narrative presents most of the information that determines whether or not a grant will be awarded. It should be written to respond to criteria that will be used by reviewers in judging the merit of the proposal as described in this document.

If the prospective PI or co-PI(s) received support for related NSF activities within the past five years, a brief description of the project(s) and outcomes must be provided in sufficient detail to enable reviewers to assess the value of results achieved. Past projects should be identified by NSF award number, amount, period of support, title, summary of results, and a list of publications and formal presentations that acknowledge the NSF award (do not submit copies of the latter). Descriptions of results of relevant prior NSF support (see below) should be limited to five (5) pages and must be included as part of the page limitations listed below. PI’s must have submitted an NSF Form 98A (Final Report) for any completed NSF-funded project or no new grant may be awarded. Formatting should follow requirements specified in the GPG, unless otherwise noted in the box which follows.

Proposals not conforming to these requirements will be returned by NSF.

Vitae (NSF Form 1362)—Biographical information (no more than two pages) must be provided for each person listed as senior personnel on NSF Form 1030 (Proposal Budget); include career and academic credentials and a mailing address.

Budget (NSF Form 1030) and Budget Justification—Proposals must contain a budget for each year of requested support and a cumulative budget for full NSF support. Facsimiles of NSF Form 1030 may be used, but at no time may substitutions or deletions in budget categories be made. The proposal may request funds under any budget category so long as the item is considered necessary to perform the proposed work and is not precluded by program guidelines or applicable cost principles. All budget requests must be documented and justified. Ordinarily, no funds are made available for equipment or facilities. Estimates of calendar months of activity must be reported for categories of key personnel. The proposed level of nonfederal cost-sharing must be included on Line M. Additional information on completing the budget can be found in the GPG (NSF 98-2).

Cost-sharing—The TE and ISE Programs expect significant cost-sharing; such cost-sharing is considered in the review and ultimate award decisions on proposals. Financial aspects of cost-sharing should be shown in a table that provides details for each contributing party by major budget category (e.g., salary, materials, stipends, travel, total). Documentation (e.g., letters of commitment) must be included in the proposal; the strength and quality of these letters are a factor in award decisions.

Categories acceptable for cost-sharing must be eligible for NSF funding and may cover items such as personnel, materials, equipment, supplies, and computer services. Categories that are not acceptable include: tuition remission (see budget), generalpurpose office equipment, rental of rooms, janitorial costs, and/or other similar charges at an institution receiving indirect costs. Only items allowable under the applicable cost principles, if charged to the project, may be included as the grantee’s contribution to cost-sharing.

Funds from non-federal sources may be counted as costsharing against only one federal project. Total non-federal costsharing should be shown on Line M of NSF Form 1030. The level of cost-sharing that is reported on Line M of the final negotiated budget is auditable and its attainment becomes a precondition for future funding increments. Funds from federal agencies (e.g., Eisenhower Funds of the Education for Economic Security Act) should not be included in Line M of NSF Form 1030, but should be identified separately by source and amount in the budget explanation. Verification of actual costshare, signed by the authorized institutional representative, must be submitted with each annual report and will affect the decision made regarding the next increment.

Current and Pending Support (NSF Form 1239)—All current and pending externally-funded support (including that from non-NSF sources) to the PI and co-PI’s (if any) must be listed on the form. The proposed project and all other projects or activities requiring a portion of the time of the PI or other senior personnel should be included, even if they receive no salary support from the project. The number of person-months per year to be devoted to the projects must be stated, regardless of source of support. Similar information must be provided for all proposals already submitted or submitted concurrently to other possible sponsors, including NSF. This information is needed to ensure that key personnel have time to carry out the project and that there is no duplication of support.

Appendices—Reviewers are often asked to read and assess a substantial number of competing proposals. For this reason, the proposal description alone should provide sufficient information so that a reviewer unfamiliar with the context of the project can make an informed judgment. In some cases it may be critical to convey more detailed information to demonstrate levels of competence or expertise, to document commitment of personnel or other resources, to demonstrate the quality of instructional materials, or to provide other relevant information. Such material can be included in appendices which are clearly referenced by the proposal. Presentation of such materials should be thoughtful and concise. Reviewers are not generally required to read appendices.

Proposals for materials for students, teacher professional development, or parents should include examples of proposed materials, and samples of past work, if they exist. Proposals seeking to implement curriculum in Local Systemic Change and Replication projects (TE Program) or Implementation and Dissemination projects (TE and IMD Programs) must include a complete description of the materials; samples of materials should be sent directly to the program for exhibit to reviewers. Prospective PI’s are encouraged to contact NSF Program Officers if they have any questions regarding submission of appendix materials.

The ISE proposals that involve exhibit development, film, television, or other media should include diagrams of exhibits, program treatments/scripts, or any other materials which may assist reviewers in understanding the specific plans for the proposed project. Media proposals should also include samples of past work to demonstrate production skills of the proposers. A set of sample materials should be included with each copy of the proposal.

Appendices should be clearly labeled, paginated, and identified in the Table of Contents.

Submission of Full Proposals.

Required materials must be postmarked no later than the program target date. ESIE programs require:

• one (1) copy sent directly to the program at

Program Name [Proposal Identification, i.e., IMD,
ISE, TE, ATE, PARENT, IMPL, ASSESS]
National Science Foundation—ESIE/EHR
4201 Wilson Boulevard—Room 885
Arlington, VA 22230

• 14 copies [IMD, ISE, TE, Parent, Implementation, and Assessment], including the signed original, sent in a single package to:

NSF Proposal Processing Unit ATTN: EHR/ESIE—
[Proposal Identification—see above]
National Science Foundation
Room P60
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230

• 11 copies [ATE] including the signed original, sent in a single package to:

NSF Proposal Processing Unit ATTN: DUE—ATE
National Science Foundation
Room P60
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230

• One copy of ‘‘Supplementary Information on PI’s/Project Director’’ (NSF Form 1225). Do not include a copy of Form 1225 in the body of the proposal, since this would compromise the confidentiality of the information. While providing information requested on NSF Form 1225 is voluntary, submission of this form is required by NSF and its omission will cause delay in processing the proposal. NSF forms can be found in the GPG (NSF 98-2) and through the World Wide Web at http://www.nsf.gov.

• All materials submitted to NSF must be contained in a secured package. NSF cannot be responsible for the processing of proposals damaged in transit.
• Each copy of the proposal should be on standard sized paper of regular weight. It should be stapled only in the upper left hand corner and should not be bound by means of glue, spirals, wire, clasps, or any other means. All narrative and appendix pages must be numbered. The duplicating process should ensure legibility for at least five years.
• One copy must be signed by the PI, all co-PIs, and the administrative official who has been designated as an Authorized Institutional Representative.

SPECIAL CATEGORIES of FULL PROPOSALS

With the exception of planning grants submitted to the ISE Program, these categories of proposals do not require preliminary proposals. However, prior discussion with an ESIE Program Officer is encouraged.

Conferences, Symposia, and Workshops. NSF supports conferences, symposia, and workshops to assemble experts for purposes of discussing recent research or education findings, exposing others to new research and education techniques, and developing action plans. Proposals must describe: 1) the rationale for selecting participants and recruiting strategies; 2) the nature of participant involvement and relevance of the conference to their normal professional activities; and, 3) the ‘‘action plan’’ being developed for participants and its anticipated impact. Since conference proceedings are normally published in professional journals, requests may be made for publication costs. The level of funding generally is determined by the size and nature of the conference. Conference proposals should be made at least nine months in advance of the scheduled date; one-year lead time is preferable.

Proposals should include: 1) a summary (one page or less) indicating the objectives of the project and its potential for changing practice; 2) statement of need and a list of topics; 3) names and qualifications of key personnel organizing the activity; 4) a list of participants; 5) information on the location and probable date(s) of the meeting; 6) the method of announcement or invitation; and, 7) estimated total budget, detailing the requested NSF contribution and support requested or available from other sources. Note that no indirect costs may be applied to participant support costs. For further information, see GPG (NSF 98-2). These proposals may be submitted at any time and do not require prior submission of a preliminary proposal, though prior discussion with an ESIE Program Officer is encouraged. Proposals should be transmitted to NSF using the guidelines for full proposals described above.

Planning Grants. Planning grants are generally intended for groups that need additional resources to develop critical areas of a project. Such groups may include those who have been underrepresented in science or mathematics education activities (e.g. minorities, women, the physically disabled), new performers, or applicants attempting to coordinate the activities of large and complicated systems and/or develop large-scale leadership activities. [See TE section for special restrictions under that program.] Activities may involve planning that results in a full proposal or to make better use of other federal funds such as Eisenhower, Title 1, etc.

The grant proposal should specify why planning support is needed and must present a clear description of the planning activities, goals, and methods. The plan of work should provide a month-by-month schedule that indicates when planning activities are to be done and who will be responsible for management and implementation these activities. There also should be a discussion of what information or products will result from the planning process and how these results will be used in followup activities.

Planning grant proposals may be submitted anytime during the year using the same format as a full proposal, although the project description may be less detailed. An original, signed proposal with four copies should be sent directly to the relevant program. Preliminary proposals for planning grants are required for submission to the ISE Program but not for other Programs in ESIE. Planning grants are subject to external review in all programs except TE.

In general, ESIE will support planning grants under the following conditions: 1) they are small-scale or exploratory in nature; 2) the award typically does not exceed $50,000 with a maximum indirect cost rate of 10-percent; 3) the duration does not exceed two years; and, 4) awards are non-renewable and continued support may be requested only through submission of a full proposal. A final project report is required. Full proposals that result from planning grants require prior submission of a preliminary proposal.

Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER). Proposals (one copy only) for small-scale, exploratory, high-risk research in the fields normally supported by NSF in both research and education, may be submitted to individual programs. Eligible SGER activities include: 1) preliminary work on untested and novel ideas; 2) ventures into emerging research areas; 3) application of new expertise and new approaches to ‘‘established’’ research topics; 4) research having severe urgency with regard to availability of, or access to, data, facilities, or specialized equipment, including quick-response research on natural disasters and similar unanticipated events; or 5) efforts of similar character likely to catalyze rapid and innovative advances.

Project descriptions for SGER proposals should be two to five pages in length and include clear statements as to why the proposed research should be considered particularly exploratory and high risk, the nature and significance of potential impact on the field, and why an SGER grant is suitable for supporting the work. SGER proposals are not subject to external peer review. The budget request is not to exceed $100,000. Project duration will normally be one year, but no more than two years. Renewed funding may only be requested through submission of a non-SGER proposal which will be subject to full merit review. Additional information about this activity is included in GPG (NSF 98-2) or can be obtained from NSF program officers. The box ‘‘Small Grant for Exploratory Research’’ must be checked on the NSF Form 1207.