The Advisory Board, while standard on most large and complex NSF-funded programs, is particularly important for the MSPinNYC. One of its major objectives, and a feature that the NSF was impressed with, is the plan to develop a successful way of doing systemic reform in a large urban center. Other objectives involve bridge-building, policy analysis and alignment, altering pre-service mathematics and science education, development of partnerships across colleges, academic departments, and levels of schooling, and strategies to involve the CUNY system and NYC schools in it broader efforts. It is expected that the Advisory Board will help the MSPinNYC position itself to make necessary changes and gain support for emerging ideas. In one sense this group will serve as a “think-tank” to help the MSPinNYC anticipate and solve difficult problems as they arise.

Examples of specific Advisory Board responsibilities include:

• Collegial oversight and advise (including scale up, sustainability, and institutionalization)
• Analyzing project weaknesses and strengths
• Reviewing and assessing new plans, implementation strategies, and ideas that emerge from the program
• Developing interest among those colleges and school regions not yet involved in the project
• Gaining access to people, ideas, and programs
• Establishing connections with other agencies and organizations that benefit learning and teaching, directly or indirectly (museums, learning centers, housing, transportation, community action groups)
• Helping analyze and find solutions to critical issues encountered during implementation

The Advisory Board

• Josefina Arce
• Beatriz Chu Clewell
• Brian Coppola
• David Ferguson
• Charlotte K. Frank
• Richard Lesh
• Madeleine J. Long
• Debra Tomanek
• Philip Uri Treisman
• Jerry D. Valadez
• William Yslas Vélez