Payments, Incentives, Awards at the 2011 Chicago Debate Championship (T6)

The 2011 Allstate CPS Chicago Debate Championship (Tournament Six in the CDL Season Calendar) is the culminating event of the year, and fittingly we will be celebrating the growth and achievement of our debaters, and the dedication and performance of our coaches. A just array of payments, incentives, and awards will be disbursed (many of which will reward maximal student engagement and participation at this final regular tournament of the season).

And before getting to the upcoming payments, incentives, and awards, review the incentives that have disbursed so far this season by taking a look at the 2011 Incentives Payment Tracking Form. Check out how much in incentives your school has earned, and for what. The CDL has disbursed more than $70,000 in incentives this season, and is on track to disburse more than $100,000 in incentives!

(i) Student Incentives

Sylvia is working on collecting a set of student incentives — gift cards, etc., there is even the possibility, still only a possibility, of a currently very popular technological item, which will be an exciting surprise if we can get it to give to a couple students. Some of these we’ll be giving out to students by raffle, some of these we may be giving out to students for season-long dedication.

(ii) Coach Stipend Payments

As you know from the Coach Stipend Allocation System, district schools are allocated $750 in coach stipend payment for each regular tournament at which they meet the CDL Participation Standard. The Chicago Debate Championship is the sixth regular tournament of the year, and it is no exception.

Given eligibility restrictions, the “even up” rule (you can add a debater to your eligibility list if you have an odd number of eligible debaters in a Division), and the “at large” offerings (two debaters per school, four debaters per “Expanding Opportunities” school), we have determined the minimum number of debaters each school should register for the 2011 Chicago Debate Championship in order to meet the CDL Participation Standard. If you are under this standard right now, contact us to discuss how you can register additional debaters in order to meet it, within League Guidelines and Policies.

(iii) Allstate Coaching Incentives

The Allstate Coaching Incentives Overview describes the details of the two forms of these.

To check where your school is in relation to the $100 for every 12 debaters more it sends to tournaments this year over last year, check the Coach Incentives Tracking Form. We will be disbursing these incentives on site at the 2011 Chicago Debate Championship.

And the top 25 schools in overall participation will be honored and awarded their incentives ($350 for schools 1st – 10th, $150 for schools 11th – 25th) at the Awards Ceremony of the 2011 Chicago Debate Championship. The Tournament Reporting Notebook (Tournament Numbers sheet, the second sheet in the document) identifies the current rankings of schools in total participation, going into T6.

(iv) Allstate “Expanding Opportunities” Incentives

The Top Five “Expanding Opportunities” schools in total, year-long participation will receive $500 incentives each. And the Top Five Most Improved (T4- T6 total debaters, over T1 – T3 total debaters, this year) “Expanding Opportunities” schools will receive $500 each. The Coach Incentives Tracking Form has the current rankings of “Expanding Opportunities” schools in both categories. (It’s the first sheet of the document, check the tabs at the bottom of these spreadsheets to identify what the sheet is reporting, AFTER you download it. Spreadsheets generally can’t be looked at on box.net, you have to download them on to your desktop first.)

(v) CPS Coaching Incentives

Remember that CPS is also offering additional coaching incentives this year. The exact denomination will depend on the total amount of coach stipends allocated under the new Coach Stipend Allocation System. We are committed to making this new system “expenditure neutral” — meaning that we’ll give out incentives at whatever level we under-spend the coach stipend allocation budget, because fewer schools meet the Participation Standard than we had projected.

We are still refining the final incentive structure here, but we know that they will be given out on the basis of improved participation performance this year: T4 – T6 total debaters, over T1 – T3 total debaters, this year (i.e., the same scale as the second type of “Expanding Opportunities” incentives). We are likely to give incentives on a graduated scale: the largest to the 1st – 5th place schools on this scale (possibly as high as $850), next 6th – 10th (possibly $650), then 11th – 15th ($400 is possibly), and finally 16th – 20th ($300 is possible).

The Coach Incentives Tracking Form has a sheet that outlines the current rankings of schools based on the improved participation performance, this season over last season, at the CPS Incentives tab. Here are the current rankings of the top 30 schools, going into T6.

1. Marine
2. Thomas Kelly
3. Kenwood
4. Marshall
5. Hyde Park
6. Woodlawn
7. Westinghouse
8. Harlan
9. Douglass
10. Hubbard
10. Lincoln (tie)
12. Ellison
12. Mather (tie)
14. Phoenix
15. Kelvyn Park
16. Amundsen
16. Michele Clark (tie)
18. Prosser
18. Williams (tie)
20. Alcott
20. Lane Tech (tie)
22. King
22. School of the Arts (tie)
24. Rowe-Clark
25. Juarez
26. Farragut
27. Payton
28. VOISE
29. Evanston
30. Brooks

(vi) Year-End Awards

We will have a variety of very important, honorary year-end awards to bestow at the Reception and Awards Ceremony of the 2011 Chicago Debate Championship. The major ones include:

Golden Gavel Award
Voltaire Sterling Debater of the Year
Alumnus of the Year
Principal of the Year
Richard M. Daley Leadership Award
Seymour Simon Award
Betty Willhoite Award
Adjudicator of the Year

For a list of previous winners of these prestigious awards in the CDL, check the Pages of Fame.

And as always don’t hesitate to ask about what may not be clear to you from the above (especially but not exclusively if you are relatively new to the CDL).