November 2012

Dear McNair Project Director:

Thank you for your continued support of the Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate (McNair) Program. This letter provides guidance for the McNair annual performance report (APR) submission for program year 2011–12. The deadline for submitting the APR via a Web site maintained by our data processing contractor is January 4, 2013, and as such, the Website will not be available after the deadline date. In addition, the Department will not accept a hardcopy of the APR.

Grantees will use the same online Web application and registration process developed for the 2010–11 APR submission. All McNair grantees must use the online reporting application to submit the 2011–12 performance report which will be available on December 3, 2012. 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 process, please review the OMB approved form and instructions for the 2011-12 McNair 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.

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, the participant data file you prepare for the 2011-12 APR should include the SSNs of all participants, as this is the primary identifier used to match participant records across project years.

For the 2011–12 reporting period, because you have implemented your new objectives and as such have already completed the Verification of Number Funded to Serve and Prior Experience Standard Objectives section, you will only need to complete Section I (Project Identification, Certification, and Warning) and Section II (Record Structure for Participant List).

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 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,

Katie E. Blanding, PhD
Director
Graduate and Special Focus Programs Division

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