Student Achievement Data and Findings, as Reported in Math and Science Partnerships' Annual and Evaluation Reports.

A primary feature of the Math and Science Partnership Program Evaluation (MSP PE) is the examination of K-12 student achievement changes associated with the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Math and Science Partnership (MSP) Program. This article describes one of three complementary assessments of K-12 student achievement being conducted by the MSP-PE, and consists of a synthesis of student achievement findings reported by the MSP projects themselves (the other two assessments also are described in this volume). The assessment described in this article covers 39 of the 48 MSP project awards made by NSF from 2002 to 2004. Data sources included the MSP projects’ annual and evaluation reports submitted to NSF through 2006-07 and research manuscripts developed by the MSPs for presentation at three MSP evaluation conferences. A two dimensional cross-MSP matrix was developed to reveal the disparate research efforts undertaken by the MSPs and present a cross-MSP perspective. The article describes a number of challenges faced by the MSPs as revealed by the current assessment, including: a) many of the MSPs report districtwide data even though the MSPs may not have implemented activities at the district level; b) MSPs that have chosen to define pre-established benchmarks for later comparison to actual performance have not usually discussed any rationale for selecting their particular numeric benchmarks; c) many MSPs report scores for multiple grade levels for both science and mathematics, making an overall interpretation difficult; d) the MSPs should endeavor to identify the amount of professional development that appears to make a discernable difference in student achievement outcomes; and e) most of the evaluation frameworks reported by the MSPs are not poised to go beyond establishing concurrent trends and testing more strongly the actual efficacy of an MSP’s activities.