Announcements

Denver, Colorado – A scientific study published in the Journal of Negro Education cites an Urban Debate League, similar to the Denver Urban Debate League, is effective at raising student achievement in low-performing schools. Currently, the Denver Urban Debate League, in its second year, operates in six Denver Public Schools with more than 50 students participating.

An Urban Debate League is defined as a competitive policy debate program that targets urban schools and youth. The league trains and organizes students, coached by teachers and school faculty, to engage in policy research, public speaking, and argumentative advocacy.

“Since launching in August 2008, DUDL has experienced remarkable success giving Denver high school students the opportunity to learn and achieve through debate,” said Jessica Clark, executive director of the Denver Urban Debate League. “We invite the public to see for themselves at our Baker Hostetler Debate Classic on November 20^th and 21^st at Thomas Jefferson High School.

The study published in the Journal of Negro Education not only found that urban debate participation helps students in low performing schools, but it also raises their chances of graduation, literacy scores, and college and career readiness.

The study found that among African American male students, debaters were 70 percent more likely to graduate high school, three times less likely to drop out, 50 percent more likely to reach the ACT college-readiness benchmark for English, and 70 percent more likely to reach the ACT benchmark for reading than non-debaters, even after accounting for 8th grade achievement.  The researchers’ next round of analysis of this data uses propensity score matching analysis to better account for self-selective participation and indicates debaters are on average three times more likely to graduate than students who did not debate.

This research was conducted by Dr. Briana Mezuk of Virginia Commonwealth University, in cooperation with the University of Michigan, the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools, and the Chicago Debate Commission. It retrospectively examines ten years of the Chicago Debate League, a partnership between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Debate Commission.

The upcoming DUDL competition at Thomas Jefferson High School, sponsored by Denver law firm Baker Hostetler, LLC, will take place from 3:30 PM – 10:00 PM on Friday and 8:0 AM – 8:00 PM on Saturday.  The debates are open to the public.  At least 40 students are expected to compete in two divisions: Novice and Varsity.  The high schools participating in the Baker Hostetler Debate Classic include Academy of Urban Learning, Manual, Martin Luther King, Jr. Early College, Montbello, Thomas Jefferson, and West.

The DUDL teams will debate the 2009-10 National High School Policy Debate Resolution: Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase social services for persons living in poverty in the United States.  Debaters will take part in six debate rounds, arguing both the affirmative and negative side of the resolution.

For more information about the Denver Urban Debate League please contact Jessica Clark, Executive Director at 720.878.2776.

For more information about the study, contact the NAUDL’s Chief Academic Officer Eric Tucker at erictucker@urbandebate.org or (312) 771-1816.

Related Website: denverdebate.org