High School Unified Manual 08 - National Speech & Debate ...

1 08 Fall high School Unified Manual Chapter, Rules, and Tournament Operations 2016-2017 The National Speech & Debate Association is the largest interscholastic Speech and Debate organization serving middle School , high School , and collegiate students in the United States. The Association provides competitive Speech and Debate activities, high -quality resources, comprehensive training, scholarship opportunities, and advanced recognition to more than 150,000 students and coaches every year. For more than 90 years, the National Speech & Debate Association has empowered more than million members to become engaged citizens, skilled professionals, and honorable leaders in our society. OUR MISSION: We believe communication skills are essential for empowering youth to become engaged citizens, skilled professionals, and honorable leaders in our global society. We connect, support, and inspire a diverse community of honor society members committed to fostering excellence in young people through competitive Speech and Debate activities.

2 OUR VISION: We envision a world in which every student has access to competitive Speech and Debate activities. We are the leading voice in the development of resources, competitive and ethical standards, curricular and co-curricular opportunities, and recognition systems for our vast network of student, coach, and alumni members. Version Updated February 13, 2017 @speechanddebate /speechanddebate National Speech & Debate Association 2016-2017 high School Unified Manual 2 Table of Contents SECTION 1: high School Chapter Manual .. 6 Membership .. 7 I. School Membership .. 7 II. Recording Merit Points .. 8 III. Individual Membership .. 11 IV. Degrees .. 13 V. Chapter Procedures .. 14 Supplies .. 15 Awards .. 15 Code of Honor .. 18 Coaches Code of Ethics .. 18 District and National Leadership .. 19 I. District Committee .. 19 II. Board of Directors .. 19 Calendar: Year At-a-Glance .. 20 Quick Reference for Chapter Advisors/Coaches .. 21 Section 2: high School Event Rules Manual .

3 22 Main Event Rules .. 23 Policy Debate .. 23 Public Forum Debate .. 24 Lincoln-Douglas Debate .. 25 Congressional Debate .. 32 Original Oratory .. 41 Informative Speaking .. 41 Program Oral Interpretation .. 42 Interpretation .. 43 Extemporaneous Speaking .. 47 Supplemental Event Rules .. 50 Extemporaneous Commentary .. 50 Prose and Poetry .. 50 Extemporaneous Debate .. 51 Expository .. 52 Consolation Event Rules .. 53 Impromptu .. 53 Storytelling .. 53 USA World Schools Debate Invitational .. 54 National Speech & Debate Association 2016-2017 high School Unified Manual 3 SECTION 3: District Tournament Operations Manual .. 55 Planning the District Tournament .. 56 Guidelines for Scheduling .. 56 Setting up Joy of Tournaments .. 56 Tournament Roles and Responsibilities .. 56 Tournament Officials .. 56 Suggested Tournament Roles .. 56 Standards for Holding a District Qualifying Tournament .. 57 District Eligibility .. 57 National Qualification Levels .. 58 Auto-Qualification.

4 59 Registering for the District Tournament .. 60 School Eligibility and Entry Limits .. 60 Student Eligibility and Requirements .. 61 Running the District Debate Tournament .. 64 General Rules and Instructions .. 64 Absolute Pairing Priorities .. 65 Pairing Rounds One and Two .. 65 Pairing Subsequent Rounds .. 66 Running the District Congressional Debate Tournament .. 68 General Rules and Instructions .. 68 Assigning Students to Chambers .. 69 National Qualification .. 70 Running the District Speech Tournament .. 73 General Rules and Instructions .. 73 Sectioning in the Up/Down Model .. 73 Sectioning .. 73 Moving Entries from Sections .. 73 Speaker Order .. 74 Balance of Power .. 74 Changing Ranks .. 74 Scoring Ties .. 74 Final Round .. 74 Determining National Qualifiers and Alternates .. 74 The California Plan .. 76 Planning Preliminary Rounds .. 76 Preset Preliminary Round .. 76 Powered Preliminary Rounds .. 78 Determining Semifinal Qualifiers .. 78 Pairing the Semifinal Round.

5 78 Determining Final Round Qualifiers .. 79 Pairing the Final Round .. 79 Determining National Qualifiers .. 79 National Speech & Debate Association 2016-2017 high School Unified Manual 4 Sweepstakes Awards .. 80 Overall District Sweepstakes Plaque .. 80 Congress, Debate , and Speech Sweepstakes Awards .. 81 District Cumulative Sweepstakes Award .. 81 Reporting to the National Office .. 82 District Tournament Audit Procedures .. 83 District Tournament Rules and Penalties .. 84 Debate Events .. 84 Speech Events .. 85 Judge Instructions and Guidelines .. 86 General Instructions .. 86 Statement on Conflicts of Interest in Judging .. 86 District Team for USA World Schools Debate Invitational .. 88 Methods to Select the World Schools District Team .. 88 Coach of the World Schools District Team .. 88 District Qualification Process for Big Questions Debates .. 89 Entries/Qualification Process .. 89 SECTION 4: National Tournament Operations Manual .. 90 Entry Requirements.

6 91 Instructions for Registering .. 91 General Rules .. 94 Eligibility and Qualification .. 94 Overarching Competition Rules .. 95 Tournament Procedures for Debate Events .. 97 General Rules and Instructions .. 97 Debate Pairing Instructions .. 98 Tournament Procedures for Main Speech Events .. 103 General Rules and Instructions .. 103 Speech Sectioning Instructions .. 103 National Congressional Debate Procedures .. 108 Supplemental and Consolation Event Procedures .. 113 Supplemental Events .. 113 Consolation Events .. 113 Sectioning and Tabulation .. 113 World Schools Debate Procedures: USWSDI .. 115 Big Questions Capstone Event Logistics .. 116 National Speech & Debate Association 2016-2017 high School Unified Manual 5 APPENDIX A: Debate Event Time Limits .. 119 APPENDIX B: Speech Event Time Limits .. 120 APPENDIX C: Casebook Questions .. 121 APPENDIX D: Congress Evidence Challenge Form .. 125 APPENDIX E: Change Log .. 126 Questions? .. 132 National Speech & Debate Association 2016-2017 high School Chapter Manual 6 SECTION 1: high School Chapter Manual The National Speech & Debate Association functions on two levels: first, as an organization to govern and promote Speech and Debate activities; and second, as an honor society to recognize and support Speech and Debate education.

7 This section focuses primarily on official rules pertaining to high School membership, individual student and coach participation, member enrollment, governance, and acknowledgement of service. For questions not answered here, please contact the National office at or call (920) 748-6206. National Speech & Debate Association 2016-2017 high School Chapter Manual 7 Membership I. School Membership A. Chapter Activation: A School may join the Association or renew membership upon payment of yearly chapter $149 dues and the signature of the School principal on the membership form. Active chapters are entitled to: 1. Access to the online point recording site (Points Application) and enrollment of individual students/coaches upon payment of individual enrollment fees (see below). 2. A quarterly (Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring) subscription to Rostrum magazine includes two copies mailed in mid-September, mid-November, mid-February, and mid-April; there is a fee for additional subscriptions.

8 The magazine and other publications also are available at 3. Entry in the district tournament to qualify for the National Tournament. Entry allotment is based on the chapter strength of members and degrees on record seven (7) days or 168 hours prior to the start of the tournament. 4. Access to thousands of resources on the Association s website. From lesson plans, coaching techniques, and live webinars to recorded videos and sample final round performances, the National Speech & Debate Association is the leading provider of academic and competitive resources for Speech and Debate . Important Notice for 2016-2017: To best serve our students, strengthen the creation and sustainability of programs, and establish continuity from middle School to high School , the Board of Directors voted at the Fall 2015 Board Meeting to require School affiliation for all memberships beginning with the 2016-2017 School year. Any high School , middle School , home School , or virtual School recognized as an accredited public or private School by the state in which those schools compete may join the National Speech & Debate Association.

9 All current non- School -based clubs and organizations are encouraged to work with the Association and area School districts to create Speech and Debate programs through their students' schools. Students who are currently Association members through their area non- School -based clubs and organizations may request to have their memberships transferred at any time to their accredited public and private schools by contacting B. Chapter Classification: Each School is designated a provisional chapter, member chapter, or charter chapter, which determines its extent of voting privileges and credit toward a district s strength of chapters. In turn, the district strength determines the number of qualifiers to the National Tournament. 1. Provisional Chapter: A brand new School or one whose Association membership lapsed for more than five years. Provisional chapters count as one-half of a full charter for district strength. A School at the provisional chapter level may stay at that level for up to three years.

10 2. Member Chapter: A chapter that has either completed three years at the provisional level and has not met chartering requirements, or is returning as a member chapter within five years of absence. Charter chapters not meeting charter strength renewal requirements over a three-year period are moved to member chapter status. 3. Charter Chapter: The Association s highest School membership honor. A chapter is automatically chartered after at least one year at provisional or member status, and has enrolled at least 50 degrees within a three-year period. Small schools with a grade 9-12 enrollment of fewer than 500 students must enroll at least 25 degrees within a three-year period. If a charter chapter does not meet the minimum three-year strength requirements, it can apply for a one-year extension, or it reverts to member chapter status. If a charter is suspended for non-payment of dues, it may return as a charter chapter if it has been less than three years since its last membership and all prior invoices (including missing National Speech & Debate Association 2016-2017 high School Chapter Manual 8 year dues) are paid in full.