November 2011

Dear McNair Project Director:

I am writing regarding the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate (McNair) annual performance report (APR) submission for program year 2010–11. The deadline for submitting the APR via a Web site maintained by our data processing contractor is December 31, 2011. If you have not successfully transmitted your APR information by the deadline date of December 31, 2011, we will not have the data we need to determine if you have earned prior experience (PE) points for the 2010-11 project year; therefore, you will not be awarded any PE points for 2010-11. As such, please be advised the Web site will not be available after December 31, 2011. In addition, we will not accept a hard copy of the APR.

You will use the same online Web application and registration process developed for the 2009-10 APR submission with some modifications discussed below. All McNair projects must use the online reporting application to submit the 2010–11 annual performance report which will be available on November 1, 2011. The instructions for submitting the report and the links to the secured Web site maintained by our contractor are at the following Web address:

http://www.ed.gov/programs/triomcnair/report.html

Prior to beginning the data submission process, please review the OMB approved form and instructions for the 2010-11 APR available on our Web site. Also, you may want to download a copy of the McNair APR Web Site User’s Guide available at:

https://trio.ed.gov/mcnair

As has been the process for the APR data collections for the past three years, there are four options for starting the data submission process for Section II:

• Download an Excel file of last year’s submitted data; update the file and then upload directly to the Web form.
• Upload an Excel/CSV file directly to the Web form.
• Transfer last year’s data submission to the Web form and update and add records online.
• Enter student data directly into the Web form.

As you know, the Download feature does not include the social security numbers (SSNs) of your participants, even though in most cases the file you provided us contained this information. This change was made to better protect the personal information contained on the data file and prevent inadvertent misuse of information provided to the Department of Education. However, as was requested in previous submissions process, the participant data file you prepare for the 2010-11 APR should include the SSNs of all participants, as this is the primary identifier used to match participant records across project years.

The changes we have made include: (1) a new registration feature that allows projects to reset a forgotten password by providing the correct contact information and answering two security questions; (2) annual updates to the form and instructions for the 2010-11 data collection; and (3) redesign of the race and ethnicity fields to comply with new Federal reporting guidelines as described in the APR instructions. Please refer to the APR instructions for additional information regarding the new reporting requirements for the race and ethnicity fields.

For the 2010-11 reporting period, you will only need to complete two sections of the APR Section I (Project Identification, Certification, and Warning) and Section II (Record Structure for Participant List) -- because all grantees have implemented their new objectives.

Thank you for the time and effort you dedicate to performance reporting each year and for your commitment to providing complete and accurate data. Please retain source documents in a readily accessible form so that they can be verified during an on-site visit.

If you encounter technical problems accessing the Web site or using the Web application, please contact the Help Desk using the instructions provided at the site. Also, remember that after you submit the completed APR electronically, you must also submit, via fax, a signed copy of Section I of the report form that certifies that the information submitted electronically is readily verifiable and that the information reported is accurate and complete. The fax number is (703) 832-1360. Should you have questions regarding the performance report requirements, please contact your program specialist directly. To ascertain your program specialist's name, telephone number, and e-mail address, please visit:

http://www.ed.gov/programs/triomcnair/contacts.html

Sincerely,

Eileen S. Bland
Director
Undergraduate and Graduate Programs Division
Student Service

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