December 5, 2008

Dear Upward Bound Project Director:

It is time to prepare your annual performance report (APR) for program year 2007-08. Most regular Upward Bound projects and all Upward Bound Math-Science projects must submit their reports by January 30, 2009; regular Upward Bound grants with start dates of December 1, 2007 have until February 27, 2009 to complete their APRs. The online data collection Web site for the UB programs will be available to you on December 15, 2008 via the Upward Bound and Upward Bound Math-Science "performance" pages: (http://www.ed.gov/programs/trioupbound/performance.html; http://www.ed.gov/programs/triomathsci/performance.html).

Newly revised APR: As you may know, you will be working with an APR format that has been significantly revised from last year's to reflect the new standard objectives included in the application package for our fiscal year 2007 competition. This revised format was cleared for use by the Office of Management and Budget via a process under which all grantees had the opportunity to comment on proposed revisions. We are grateful for the participation of all those who commented so as to produce a document that is of maximum usefulness to you and TRIO.

We are pleased to let you know that, in the interest of reducing your work, the overall number of fields in the report has been sharply reduced--from 100 to 52. We were able to accomplish this by eliminating the great majority of fields involving services the projects provide and by identifying all other fields that were not essential to the purposes for which the report is intended: the APR allows us to determine grantees' compliance with requirements of the program, to assess the extent to which you have met your objectives, to generate data on the performance of the Upward Bound programs as a whole, and to calculate prior experience (PE) points. Please also note that the form contains only two sections--Section I for project identification, certification, and warning, and Section II for all other data on the project. We will be able to gather from the participant data (Section II) of this and prior years' APRs all the information we need about your progress and the extent to which you met your objectives.

Of importance to your objectives and PE points is the expected high school graduation cohort year (field #23) of each of your participants. Please pay particular attention to the role of cohorts in the APR as discussed below.

New online Web application: Another major development this year is our adoption of a new Web-based data collection system that will increase the accuracy, completeness, and efficiency of submissions. This process includes online data quality checks that will require you to correct data errors (or provide explanations for discrepancies) prior to submittal. The Web application is also designed to capture on one data file all student records and data fields needed to calculate PE points. For the 2007-08 PE calculations, the data file must include one record for each student served by the project in the reporting year (e.g., 2007-08) and in previous years who had an expected high school graduation cohort year of 2008, even if the project did not serve some of those students in 2007-08.

Prior to working with the online Web application, please review the form and instructions for the 2007-08 APR available at our Web site at the URL listed in the first paragraph above. Remember that you are required to report on both current and prior-year participants to the extent described in the general instructions (pages 2-3). You may also want to download a copy of the user's guide for the on-line Web application that will be available as of December 15 from the online application site at https://trio.ed.gov/UB/.

Individual participant data (Section II of the APR): You must submit your list of participants either in Excel or CSV format. Column names in the file must match the "Database Column Names" provided in column three of Section II as it appears on the UB and UBMS performance pages (please use the URL in the first paragraph of this letter). Text files (also known as ASCII files) are no longer accepted; therefore you do not need to identify field lengths, position start and end, and field type.

The new Web application provides four options for starting to submit data for Section II:

• Download an Excel file of last year's submitted data; update the file and then upload it 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.

If you choose to download the Excel file with your last year's data, please note that the download feature does not include the social security numbers (SSNs) of your participants, even though 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 by the Department. However, the participant data file you prepare for the 2007-08 APR should include the SSNs of all participants, as this is the primary identifier used to match participant records across project years.

Also, the data from last year's file for certain fields that need to be updated each year will not be on the Excel file you download or in the Web form if you choose to transfer last year's data directly to the Web form. You will need to complete these data fields with information from your 2007-08 project year. Also, because of new Department-wide guidance on collecting data on race and ethnicity, the data for fields #10-15 will not be on the downloaded file. You may leave these fields blank for prior participants but we ask that you complete the fields for all current year participants. In the general instructions, please see pages 8-10 for a list of fields that should not change from year to year unless you have discovered that erroneous data had been entered in the past.

If you are unable to prepare an Excel (or CSV) file using your existing database, you have the option of either transferring last year's data directly into the Web form or entering student data directly into the Web form. If you choose to transfer last year's data or enter the data directly online, you must update every student record and/or add new student records online. This process could be very time-consuming.

Participant list and data error report: Once you have uploaded the file or entered the data online, a Participant Review List Table (also known as the "Table View") will be generated listing all of the students on your data file. For each participant record with errors, the report will display the specific data fields that require corrections. This report will display two types of errors: (1) invalid data values and (2) data validation errors.

• An invalid data value exists when a data field for the participant record includes a value other than one of the "Valid Field Content" options provided in column 4 of Section II. For the great majority of fields, a blank constitutes an invalid data value; thus many of these errors that you see on the screen might be eliminated by looking for data that you still need to add to bring the participant's record up-to-date. To correct invalid data value errors online, you may click on the student name hyperlink and then enter a valid option in the identified data field(s). In some cases--for example, if you need to provide data for many participants to replace an existing blank field--you may wish to work offline, then save and upload.

• A data validation error identifies data fields that are in conflict with each other. By clicking on the student name hyperlink, you will see an error message that explains the error; you may then correct the data online or, if it would be more efficient, offline.

The system may also cite certain fields in the "Message" column of the Table View page. While you should try to correct the possible problems identified by the messages, you will not be stopped from submitting the report if items in the "Message" column remain on the Table View screen. By contrast, invalid data values and data validation errors must be resolved before you may submit.

Review and submit process: In earlier years, data quality checks were done after TRIO accepted grantees' data files; a small percentage of grantees were then required to resubmit their data files because they had unusually high error rates. This year's new Web application includes a two-tiered system for evaluating your data, thus increasing data quality for all grantees.

The first tier data checks include the following:

Funded/Served Rate report. Compares the number of current year participant records on the data file with the number of participants the grantee was approved to serve in 2007-08. We are using a range of between 85% and 120% of the funded number as an indicator of potential data errors. If your data submission falls outside this range, you will be asked to review the data file to determine if you correctly updated the participant status field and/or included records for all participants served in 2007-08. If you determine that the data file is correct, you will be asked to provide an explanation for the high or low funded rate.

Critical Fields report. Provides a percentage of participant records with "unknown/no response" for 13 data fields that we have determined are critical for analyzing project and program outcomes in UB and UBMS. Since "unknowns" do not provide usable information for data analysis, we are asking you to review fields for which 10% or more of the records have "unknowns" and either correct (or update) the data or provide an explanation as to why the data are not available. Because of their importance in establishing cohorts (discussed below), fields #21, #22, and #23 (Date of First Project Service, Grade Level at First Service, and Expected High School Graduation Cohort Year) should contain no unknowns.

You will be required to correct data errors in the 2007-08 participant data file and pass the first tier data checks prior to submitting the APR. This may include correcting data that were accepted in previous years.

After the initial submission of the APR, the second tier data checks compare the 2007-08 participant data with data from previous years in the UB system of records. (If this is your first year of funding, your data will of course not be subject to these checks.)

The second tier data checks for grantees in UB and UBMS are based in part on a concept of considerable importance to you and to TRIO: the expected high school graduation cohort year (field #23 in Section II). You may recall that two of the program's standard objectives--those involving postsecondary enrollment and academic improvement on a standardized test--refer to cohorts. When the Department calculates the extent to which projects met their targets for these objectives, a cohort of participants will form the denominator; students in the numerator will be drawn from the denominator. Placing students in the correct cohort is thus essential to determining correctly whether your project met its objectives and earned PE points.

Cohort years are based on the date the student first received UB or UBMS services and on the grade at time of first service (not date of acceptance unless the two dates happen to coincide). For example, if a student was first served as a ninth-grader in 2004-05, his or her expected high school graduation cohort year would be 2008. Note that, in the case of a participant first served during the summer session, the student needs to have a date of first program service no earlier than June 1 in order to be counted in the correct cohort.

Cohort years should not change unless you realize that erroneous data were used in the past or that an error occurred in calculation. Circumstances in a student's life or academic experience following first service in UB or UBMS do not constitute a reason for changing the cohort. In the example above, the student's cohort would remain 2008 even if he or she dropped out in the 10th grade, returned a year later, and will now graduate in 2009 because of time away from school.

The second tier data checks include the following:

Match to Prior report. Compares the participants in your 2007-08 APR with the UB system of records for your project to ensure that your APR contains all participants reported in the past whose expected high school graduation cohort year was 2008 or later and all participants whose cohort year could not be determined. The expected high graduation cohort year in the UB system of records was derived from the data previously reported on a student's date of entry/first service and grade level at entry. If the system finds individuals with such a cohort year who are not found in your 2007-08 APR, you must either add the student record or provide an explanation for not doing so. The most common reason grantees would not wish to restore a student record from the UB system of records to the 2007-08 APR is that the record might refer to a student already included in the 2007-08 file; the two records for the one student typically differ in that one includes an incorrect SSN, a spelling error in name, or a different date of birth. The participant records are matched first on SSN and, if there is no match, on Name (first three letters of first name and last name) and Date of Birth.

Expected High School Graduation Cohort Year report. The Web application runs this report after you update and add to your 2007-08 APR any student records required by the Match to Prior report. This report compares the data you provided in field #23 (graduation cohort year) of the 2007-08 file with the UB system of records for your project. The system displays discrepancies in cohort year between your 2007-08 APR and the UB system of records. You must either correct your data in field #23 to match that of the UB system of records, or provide an explanation for each participant for whom you think the data in the UB system of records is incorrect.

New Participants report. Compares the participants listed as "new" in the 2007-08 APR with those listed as "new" on the 2006-07 APR. The system displays students listed as "new" in both years; for each student, you must update your records (for example, you could change a student reported as "new" both in 2006-07 and 2007-08 to "continuing" in 2007-08).

You will need to resolve any discrepancies raised in the Tier 2 reports within one week; you will then resubmit. When all Tier 2 reports are in order, the system will rerun the Funded Rate and Critical Fields reports to reflect the inclusion of any participants whom you might have added at Tier 2. Once your APR has passed both the Tier 1 and Tier 2 stages, TRIO will accept your report.

Help Desk: If you encounter technical problems accessing the Web site or using the Web application, please contact the Help Desk by either telephone at (703) 846-8248 or e-mail at UBWEB@cbmiweb.com. Please note that the Help Desk will try to contact projects within 24 hours of receiving the telephone call or e-mail. The Help Desk will be available to respond to your questions from December 15, 2008 to January 30, 2009 and will assist regular UB projects first funded on December 1, 2007 until February 27, 2009. During the holidays and peak times, from January 19-30, 2009, it may take longer for you to receive a response; thus, I encourage you to prepare and submit your performance report as soon as you have collected complete data.

Please remember that, after you submit the completed APR electronically, you must also fax to 703-995-4812 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. If for any reason you need to revise your performance report data after it has been submitted, please do not fax in the corrections. You should contact the Help Desk for information on revising your report and re-submitting it electronically. If 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/about/offices/list/ope/trio/staffdirectory-cupt.html.

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

Sincerely,

Geraldine G. Smith
Team Leader
College and University Preparation Team
Federal TRIO Programs

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