East Iowa District Qualifier

for the 2021 National Tournament

World Schools Debate

At the 2014 Summer Leadership Conference, attendees expressed an interest in expanding access to the National Tournament. Members also expressed widespread excitement and support for the World Schools format of debate, which the Association began sponsoring in 2013-14. Given this enthusiasm, combined with the acknowledgement of our members that expanding access to the National Tournament is good, the Board of Directors adopted a pilot proposal to create district teams that can compete at Nationals in World Schools Debate.

Method to Select the World Schools District Team 

Please fill out the form linked on the right side of this site. The form needs to be signed by the student, coach and a parent/guardian. This form should be e-mail to Maggie Rietz, East Iowa District Chair, at rietzm@davenportschools.org.  The form must be completed by Thursday, February 11^th, 2021.  

The District Committee will determine who will represent East Iowa after both District tournaments have completed.  This process will be completed once all students in Speech, Debate, and Congress events have been verified.

Selection process:

As a reminder, here are the guidelines we set forth five years ago, regarding how the selection process for the World Schools Team will be conducted.  Here goes:

1st Priority - The World Schools Debate Coach selected will be allowed to choose one student from their own school, if that coach has no other National qualifiers.

2nd Priority - If there are 5 schools or less applying, each school will be allowed to select one candidate to attend that is an alternate to one (or more) of the main events.

3rd Priority - Seniority will be preferred, so long as the student is an alternate in at least one main event.  Seniority will apply for any students with 2-years or more of Speech/Debate experience.

4th Priority - In the event of a tie, students with higher alt status will be preferred over lower.  If there is a tie in alt status, a student with more alt event status will be preferred over the one with only one alt status. 

5th Priority - Choosing a student from a school with the least amount of qualifiers.

So, just some explanation for each:

1st Priority Explanation - We felt that the coach of the team needed a reason to go to Nationals beyond just being a coach.  It is doubtful that a school would allow (or help cover the cost) of traveling to Nationals if a coach didn't even have a student attending.  So, we thought this should be the first priority - meaning the committee has to get the coach figured out before figuring out the candidates. 

2nd Priority Explanation - The event is meant to be a District-wide team.  It seemed only fair to emphasize that priority in our selection criteria.  This will guarantee a wide range of students, while still ensuring they are all alternates in some other event first.  We want the best/brightest/most diverse group we can get.  This policy will do that and hopefully encourage more schools to join in.

3rd Priority Explanation - Seniority matters...but we also want to ensure that students with experience.  So, a compromise - we are going to look at Seniority first, but limit it to those with 2-years or more experience.  This should help ensure that someone starting their Senior year is not preferred over someone who has done this for 2+ years.

4th Priority Explanation - Alt status is the next factor.  1st alt over 2nd.  More alt statuses over one.  Any further tiebreaker likely a coach over decision.

5th Priority Explanation - We will emphasize getting more entries from particular schools that don't have many. 

Additional Thoughts

The East Iowa District wants to send the best team possible to Nationals and will expect members of the team to contribute to the effectiveness of the team as a whole.  This would include: attending practices, researching cases, organizing materials, and being a proactive member of a team composed of students from across the East Iowa district.  Students will be expected to listen and cooperate with their World Schools Coach.  Failure to comply or do their part may result in a student being removed from the team.  Please only apply if you are willing to commit to prepare for this wonderful opportunity compete on the National level. 

For further details on World Schools Debate, please visit the NSDA website here:

https://www.speechanddebate.org/competition-events/ - Scroll down to World Schools Debate for more info