Pine Tree High School Virtual UIL Invitational A

January 5th - 9th, 2021

P.O. Box 5878

Longview, Texas 75608

Physical Address: 1005 West Fairmont

School:   903-295-5031          Fax:  903-295-5029

Dear UIL Coordinator/Sponsor:

We would like to welcome you back to our annual Invitational A opener. In the midst of the ongoing changes and challenges throughout 2020, we sincerely appreciate your competitive sportsmanship and friendship.  We hope you join us in kicking off the spring U.I.L. season.

Due to the potential spread of COVID over the Christmas break, PTISD does not feel that it would be wise to have an in-person meet the weekend immediately after the Christmas break. So that schools can still have access to the U.I.L. Invitational A materials as soon as possible and to see how the competition is performing, we will offer the meet virtually. All of the academic events will be offered, but we are unable to host speech and debate at this time. 

EVENTS:  This contest includes all U.I.L. academic events except the hands-on portion of computer science. The following events will be offered: current events, social studies, ready writing, literary criticism, spelling, journalism, math, calculator, number sense, science, accounting, computer applications, and computer science (written only). Academic events will be separated into large schools (Division I) and small schools (division II).  Large Schools include all 5A and 6A and Small Schools include all 1A thru 4A.  
  

REGISTRATION:  Please register by submitting the Google form found at this link (left click and follow the drop-down link). Any questions about registration, using the Google form, or using Google Drive to share materials may be directed to Lee Branson at lbranson@ptisd.org. You will include the following information on the Google form: 

1. School name and classification 

2. Coordinators name and email

3. The events in which you would like to participate 

4. If you can receive the test materials via Google Drive

DEADLINES:  We will need to have your email registration in our possession by Monday, January 4th, by noon.

ENTRY FEES: 

$300 – access to ALL the academic tests and prompts (unlimited entries)

$150 – access to math and science tests (unlimited entries)

$150 – access to all writing prompts (only 5 entries per event will be judged)

$40 – access to an individual event (unlimited entries except for writing events)

ENTRIES: Each school can enter unlimited entries in each event except for writing events. You may give the writing prompts to as many students as you want, but only bring 5 papers to the grading session Saturday morning at Pine Tree. Materials will be shared via Google Drive. Each event will have a separate folder shared with you. After scores are ranked, we will ask for scanned copies of the top ten student answer documents for all objective events. These will be scanned and shared in the folders for each event for all participating schools to see. We ask that security of testing materials be handled as though this were an in-person meet. Please do not share electronic documents with students. Coordinators may print copies to share with coaches/sponsors.

PROCEDURES FOR OBJECTIVE EVENTS:

Test materials will be emailed or shared via Google Drive on Tuesday, January 5th. Schools will have until noon on Saturday, January 9th to test, grade, and submit scores to lbranson@ptisd.org. Please be sure to have 2 sponsors grade each paper to help ensure any errors in grading due to human error are corrected before scores are submitted. If any errors in the test are noted, please email lbranson@ptisd.org ASAP so that we can make all participating schools aware. Current events, social studies, and literary criticism scores need to be submitted by Thursday, January 7th at 5pm. Once the objective portion of those tests are scored, the top 8 schools will be notified. The top 8 papers in current events and social studies will need to be scanned to lbranson@ptisd.org by the end of the school day Friday the 8th. On Saturday morning judges will score the essays to determine the composite score for each test. If there is a tie in literary criticism, the schools involved will be notified so those essays can be ranked by our judges Saturday morning.

PROCEDURES FOR WRITING EVENTS:

Writing prompts will be emailed or shared via Google Drive on Tuesday, January 5th. Schools will have all week to test their students during one testing session. Please do not release the prompts electronically to the students. On Saturday, January 9th at 9:00am, writing sponsors will have a grading session at Pine Tree HS. Each school can bring a maximum of 5 papers per event to the grading session. At least one judge needs to be present Saturday for essays to be scored. The top three essays for each division will be scanned and the scanned copies will be uploaded to the shared Google Drive.

PROCEDURES FOR SPELLING EVENT:

Since consistent oral pronunciation is important for spelling, we will provide an auditory or a video recording in Google Drive for participants to access. Participants will be able to run the file for the call-out portions of the spelling test. We suggest your on-campus test administrator be prepared to verify the pronunciation of the call-out words in place of the live verification for pronunciation that usually occurs at meets. Please run the file ahead of time to ensure any technology problems are resolved before administering any portion of the test. 

JUDGING:  Each school will grade and submit their scores to Lee Branson at lbranson@ptisd.org by Saturday, January 9 at noon. Please submit scores for Current Events, Social Studies and Literary Criticism by Thursday, January 7 at 5pm. Once those papers are ranked, judges will grade the essays and return the composite score to the appropriate schools Saturday. Once all the scores are collected, I will share the final results with all schools via Google Docs. If you are not a Google school please include that in your registration. I will contact you to set up a way for you to access all necessary documents and files. AWARDS: Medals will be mailed the week of January 11th to the top 6 places in each event for both Division I and Division II schools.  Plaques will be mailed to the top teams in both divisions as well. Division is 1A-4A and Division II is 5A–6A. Sweepstakes awards will NOT be awarded for this virtual meet.

CONFIDENTIALITY:

I contacted UIL to ensure that we could use Invitation A materials in a virtual format. Dr. Stevens was happy that we are doing our best to keep kids competing. With that being said, please make sure that none of the test materials are shared outside of your school. There are still a few weeks left for schools across Texas to hold Invitation A meets and I want us to do our best to keep this material within our testing circle. 

Thank you and Good Luck!

Lee Branson
Director of Fine Arts and U.I.L. Academics                             

Pine Tree High School                                             
lbranson@ptisd.org 

903-295-5034 ext. 1130

Please mail payment to:

Pine Tree UIL

Pine Tree High School

c/o Lee Branson

P.O. Box 5878

Longview, TX  75608