Evaluation of FY96 Excellence in Education Proposals To: "E - All WRD Employees" cc: "Dorothy M Woods, Secretary (AO), Reston, VA" Subject: Evaluation of FY96 Excellence in Education Proposals Date: Tue, 14 Nov 1995 11:01:40 -0500 From: "Dorothy M Woods, Secretary (AO), Reston, VA" In Reply Refer To: Mail Stop 423 MEMORANDUM November 14, 1995 To: All Water Resources Division Employees From: Marion M. Fisher (signed) Education Coordinator, Water Information, Water Resources Division Subject: Evaluation of Fiscal Year 1996 Excellence in Education Proposals As many of you know, a bureauwide request for FY 1996 educational outreach proposals went out through the Education Committee in May of this year. The total number of proposals received from the Water Resources, Geologic, National Mapping, and Information Systems Divisions, and the Director's Office was 79. Proposals from the Water Resources Division (WRD) accounted for more than half of the 79 proposals received. The evaluation process was completed in late August 1995, and 29 of the 79 proposals were approved by the Education Committee. Eight of the approved proposals originated in WRD and were funded for a total of $193,525. The average amount awarded to a WRD proposal was approximately $24,190. The directors of the approved projects were notified by e-mail on Thursday, November 2, 1995. For those of you who submitted proposals and did not receive notification of an approved project by e-mail, we are sorry to inform you that the Committee was not able to fund your proposal. WRD received a large number of high quality proposals, making the selection process very difficult. Lack of funds was the main reason for not approving the majority of WRD projects. We would like to share with you the criteria and policies adopted by the Education Committee and WRD in selecting proposals for funding in FY 1996. This information is provided as feedback on this year's process and to assist you in any future proposal-writing efforts. In addition, copies of WRD proposals selected for funding this year are available by calling our secretary, Helen Ipsaro, at (703) 648-6856. With respect to the evaluation process, certain criteria were established at the Education Committee level and circulated to employees at the time the request for proposals was sent out. These criteria are similar to those used in past years and include: * SCOPE (national, regional, local) * NUMBER of DISCIPLINES (geology, hydrology, mapping) * NUMBER of BUREAU DIVISIONS * MERIT and ORIGINALITY Proposals involving projects and/or products that are usable nationwide, approach education from an interdisciplinary viewpoint, involve more than one division, and have high educational merit and originality were more likely to be funded. All 79 proposals submitted to the Education Committee were evaluated by 2 independent teachers using the above criteria. The teachers' evaluations were factored into the final decisions made by the Committee when it met at the end of August. In addition to the evaluations of the independent teachers, all WRD proposals were evaluated internally (using the above criteria) by 2 hydrologists at Headquarters, as well as an outreach trainee in the Executive Potential Program from another Federal agency. Consideration of the following factors was also made: * INTERNAL and EXTERNAL PARTNERSHIPS * BALANCE in SIZE of PROJECT * LOCATION of PROJECT (museum, field class, classroom) * DEGREE of DIRECT INVOLVEMENT with SCIENTISTS * PRINTING and DISTRIBUTION of MATERIALS vs. INTERACTIVE TEACHING * POTENTIAL NUMBER of STUDENTS/TEACHERS REACHED * OVERALL QUALITY of PROPOSAL (APPEARANCE, WRITING, BUDGET ANALYSIS) * BALANCE of PROJECTS AMONG the 4 WRD REGIONS * EVALUATIONS and PRIORITIZATIONS of PROPOSALS by REGIONAL OUTREACH LIAISONS Based on the internal reviews and additional considerations above, WRD made recommendations to the Education Committee for the funding of WRD proposals. An effort was made to consider the rankings of proposals by the regional outreach liaisons and include some proposals from each of the 4 regions. An effort was also made to fund some local or regional programs of high merit as "pilot" projects for expansion to other districts in the future. In some cases, funding was awarded to enhance or continue an ongoing program. I hope this information is helpful in understanding this year's proposal process. Every effort was made to assist anyone needing help or information before the proposals were submitted and to make the evaluation process as fair and objective as possible. Thank you for your interest and enthusiasm in carrying out educational outreach activities in your region.