Urban debate league
Encyclopedia
An urban debate league (UDL) is a group of high school policy debate
Policy debate
Policy debate is a form of speech competition in which teams of two advocate for and against a resolution that typically calls for policy change by the United States federal government or security discourse...

 teams from urban high schools in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Usually, UDL's are located in large cities throughout the US, and work with predominantly minority studentshttps://www.abanet.org/litigation/committees/minority/news_naudl.html

Early years

There were various initiatives surrounding debate in urban areas in the early 1980s in Atlanta, Detroit, and Philadelphia.

The 1960s saw a rapid expansion of interscholastic forensics - competitive speech and debate. Rapid growth by the National Forensic League and the forensic community as a whole was matched by a growing number of metropolitan leagues intended to increase tournament opportunities in areas where a number of speech and debate programs existed. The Philadelphia Senior High School Debate League was started in the School District in the mid-1960s. By 1965, a large Metro Forensic League which included speech, theater, and debate competition developed in Nashville. Many of those programs simply merged into the overall forensics community, but some continued to flourish as specialized, localized communities. By the early 1980s, approximately 30 Philadelphia teams were meeting once a week after school at Olney High School doing Policy Debate. The league became the Philadelphia Scholastic Debate League in 2007 with the support of the After School Activities Partnerships (ASAP) and switched to Public Forum debate in 2008.

In the 1980s, the face of high school debate began to change. A growing awareness of the unequal access to debate spurred some individuals to focus on the need to expand access to disadvantaged groups in urban areas. Traditionally left out by financial constraints, many inner-city school students were completely excluded. The Detroit Public Debate League began in 1984 as an after-school partnership between the Detroit Gifted and Talented Program and Wayne State University
Wayne State University
Wayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...

 Director of Debate George Ziegelmueller. While developed as a "gifted" program, it was open to all Detroit communities and brought many socio-economically disadvantaged students into the activity. In Atlanta, the Urban Debate League was born as a graduate school research paper in 1983 that explored the hypothesis that debate might be a tool to level the playing field in education, and that words might be used to reduce violence in America’s cities. The initial Atlanta UDL was formed as a partnership between the Barkley Forum
Barkley Forum
The Barkley Forum, named after Emory alumnus and former United States Vice-President Alben W. Barkley, is the intercollegiate debate and forensics organization at Emory University. Debate at Emory began in the 1830s...

 of Emory University
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...

 and the Atlanta Public Schools
Atlanta Public Schools
Atlanta Public Schools is a school district based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. APS is run by the Atlanta Board of Education with interim superintendent Erroll Davis...

. The concept took root and flourished, and by 1985, it was a fully established league.

Early program support for urban debate initiatives was granted through the National Forensic League
National Forensic League
The National Forensic League is a non-partisan, non-profit educational honor society established to encourage and motivate American high school students to participate in and become proficient in the forensic arts: debate, public speaking and interpretation. NFL is the America's oldest and largest...

 and Phillips Petroleum
Phillips Petroleum
Phillips Petroleum Company was founded in 1917 by L.E. Phillips and Frank Phillips, of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Their younger brother Waite Phillips was the benefactor of Philmont Scout Ranch....

 by the early 1990s. Significant seed funding was then provided by the Open Society Institute (OSI)
Open Society Institute
The Open Society Institute , renamed in 2011 to Open Society Foundations, is a private operating and grantmaking foundation started by George Soros, aimed to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform...

 in the Spring of 1997 to take the initiative national, and OSI chose the Atlanta Urban Debate League model as the template to model in other cities. As a result, Atlanta has traditionally been thought to be the basis for the urban debate network. By 2010, more than 40,000 urban public school students had competed in UDL tournaments, coming from over 400 high schools.http://urbandebate.org/quickfacts.shtml The once predominantly white, suburban activity has changed to more accurately reflect American society. And the tireless efforts of the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues, the Associated Leaders of Urban Debate, and the National Debate Project continue to promote, support, and assess this important educational reform movement.

The Open Society Institute and New Leagues

The most crucial component in making the Urban Debate League a national education reform movement was seed funding from George Soros
George Soros
George Soros is a Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, philosopher, and philanthropist. He is the chairman of Soros Fund Management. Soros supports progressive-liberal causes...

Open Society Institute
Open Society Institute
The Open Society Institute , renamed in 2011 to Open Society Foundations, is a private operating and grantmaking foundation started by George Soros, aimed to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform...

. In the spring of 1997, OSI launched its High School Debate Grantmaking Program, the purpose of which was to support initiatives that seek to institutionalize competitive debate opportunities in high schools in traditionally underserved communities. OSI already had a tradition of supporting high school debate through its network of foundations in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...

 and the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, where OSI had demonstrated that participation in debate fostered the skills that empower young people to actively participate as citizens of open society.

After the successful establishment at a successful Urban Debate League in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 based on the Atlanta model, OSI continued its support for the Atlanta and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 leagues. By 2000, OSI had provided seed and support funding for leagues in Detroit, Tuscaloosa
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Tuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west central Alabama . Located on the Black Warrior River, it is the fifth-largest city in Alabama, with a population of 90,468 in 2010...

, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, St. Louis, Kansas City]], the San FranciscoBay area, Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

, Providence
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

, and Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

. http://www.nflonline.org/uploads/Rostrum/debatedec00_berger.pdf Before ending the program, they had provided funding for the establishment of UDLs, adding Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, Newark
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...

, and Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

. All of those leagues are still operating in 2010, and continue to serve students and provide educational opportunities that would otherwise not exist.http://www.urbandebate.org/map.shtml That continued operation shows that the OSI initiative has been a great success in creating a program that would be able to gain public and private support in order to continue even when the initial OSI grants ended. One example is the D.C. UDL. Since 2002, that league has raised over $800,000 to fund the continuing existence and growth of debate. In addition to OSI, the league has had contributions from the Fasken Foundation, the Donner Foundation, The Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation, the D.C. Council on the Humanities, and the University of the District of Columbia.http://www.dcdebate.org/index.php/AboutUs/about_us/

The contributions of OSI and other funders has led multiple other donors to bring to fruition Urban Debate Leagues in their own cities. For instance, Friends of the Miami Dade Urban Debate League—a group of individuals, corporations, and foundations—established an Urban Debate League in Miami in 2005.http://www.nationaldebateproject.org/ In 2006, a league formed in Boston. Since that time, it has received support from The Boston Public Schools, the Boston Foundation, The Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation, Social Venture Partners, Edvestors, The Mentor Newtork, The Harbus Foundation, the GMA Foundation, and the A.C. Ratshesky Foundation.http://www.bostondebate.org/?page_id=85 Also, the Einhorn Charitable Trust provided funding to found a UDL in Milwaukee in 2006. As of October 2008, the Milwaukee program is no longer administered through or associated with Marquette University. In 2007, the Dallas Urban Debate Alliance brought debate to the Dallas Independent School District.http://www.dallasurbandebate.org In 2008, a group of former high school and college debaters founded the Houston Urban Debate League to bring debate to at risk students in Houston. The Houston Independent School Board partnered with that group to support the start up of a 15 school league for the 2008-2009 school year. http://houstonurbandebateleague.org/ The Community Education Initiative is leading an effort to establish a new UDL in Nashville for the 2010-2011 school year. The league being formed represents a collaboration between the Community Education Initiative, the Metro Nashville Public Schools, the Metro Forensic League, the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues, and the National Debate Project. http://www.nashvilledebate.org/about.html All over the country, funders, universities, and individuals who are called to make a difference in their communities are partnering to bring the benefits of debate to disenfranchised youth.

UDLs today

With the growth of Urban Debate Leagues across the country, there are several national entities that are committed to reaching as many students as possible with the power of debate. In 2002, the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues
National Association for Urban Debate Leagues
The National Association for Urban Debate Leagues is a Chicago-based non-profit organization that prepares low income students of color to succeed in college and in their future careers by organizing and supporting competitive debate teams in urban public schools across the country...

 was created to provide national leadership of the Urban Debate Network.

The National Debate Project (NDP)--a consortium of Emory University
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...

, Georgia State University
Georgia State University
Georgia State University is a research university in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Founded in 1913, it serves about 30,000 students and is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities...

, Tennessee State University
Tennessee State University
Tennessee State University is a land-grant university located in Nashville, Tennessee. TSU is the only state-funded historically black university in Tennessee.-History:...

, Clark Atlanta University
Clark Atlanta University
Clark Atlanta University is a private, historically black university in Atlanta, Georgia. It was formed in 1988 with the consolidation of Clark College and Atlanta University...

, and New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

--works in the field of education reform, and promotes debate as a tool for empowering urban and rural youth living in America’s most socio-economically challenged communities. In 2003, urban debate moved into national prominence with an article in US News & World Reporthttp://www.usnews.com/usnews/culture/articles/020617/archive_021634.htm and a feature story on 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....

 about the Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

 Urban Debate League.http://urbandebate.org/videos.shtml The sudden attention and the reduction of OSI support led to the formation of the National Debate Project in Atlanta and domestic activities by the International Debate Education Association (IDEA). At about this time Urban Debate Leagues began to develop their connections with the growing after-school programs movement: in 2004 and 2005 the NAUDL was invited to make presentations at the National Institute for Out of School Time and the Alliance for Excellent Education annual conferences.

In 2005, the Associated Leaders of Urban Debate (ALOUD) was formed, led by New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

 (NYU) President John Sexton
John Sexton
John Edward Sexton is the fifteenth President of New York University, having held this position since May 17, 2002, and the Benjamin Butler Professor of Law at the New York University School of Law. From 1988 to 2002, he served as Dean of the NYU School of Law, which during his deanship became one...

 and Pitney Bowes
Pitney Bowes
Pitney Bowes Inc. is a Stamford, Connecticut-based manufacturer of software and hardware and a provider of services related to documents, packaging, mailing, and shipping, collectively referred to as mailstream. The company has approximately 36,000 employees worldwide. It is one of 87 existing...

 CEO Michael Critelli.

Major press coverage of the Urban Debate League movement and NDP projects has been featured in the New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, Seattle Times, Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...

, Baltimore Sun, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Teacher Magazine, Chronicle for Higher Education, Christian Science Monitor, the web site for the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

, and on the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 show 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....

.

Funding

The goal of the OSI's Urban Debate Program was to offer initial support to fund debate programs within urban communities, develop local stakeholders (e.g., university partners, community funders and school system support) and then to exit the equation. The concept was once local actors see the value of the program, sustaining investment in debate would become easier.

Today, Urban Debate Leagues are funded primarily by one of three local institutions: urban public school systems, non-profit organizations dedicated to establishing a local UDL, or university debate programs engaged in community outreach.

How it works

Most UDLs function in their own unique way, and use different teaching methods to familiarize urban students with the format and application of policy debate. Most urban debate leagues recruit and train urban educators as coaches, though many also use university debaters or former debaters within the community to serve as assistant coaches. While all UDLs attempt to recruit volunteer support (e.g. tournament judges, tournament tab room coordinators, and lecturers at debate workshops for students), certain core costs of a UDL must be funded in order for the program to be sustainable including coach stipends, debate materials, and transportation to tournaments.

Local debate programs have spawned other methods to integrate debate into their communities. Urban debate has expanded to include debate across the curriculum (as a classroom learning tool), public debates (partnering with community-based organizations), debates in prisons, and middle school competitions.

UDLs have demonstrated a very high level of cost-effectiveness averaging less than $650 per student for a year's involvement in a program that researchers and media observers have widely recognized as unusually intensive in its academic focus, relative to other after-school programs.

Resources

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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