The Quizbowl Resource Center

naqt.com wrote:NAQT is pleased to announce that its 2016 Small School National Championship Tournament (SSNCT) will be held on the weekend of April 29-May 1 at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Rosemont, IL (a suburb of Chicago).

Full details

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Thank you for announcing this so early. You have no idea how much easier it makes things for us.

Lehigh Valley Academy would love to attend SSCNT next year, but we still haven't heard back about our status as a small school. After NAQT's initial decision to call LVA a large or 'selective; school, the principal wrote you guys a detailed e-mail in February to address your concerns--and I have written several myself--to no avail. Is the lack of response a denial of an appeal or simply... a lack of a response?

LVA is a small, cash-strapped charter school; it won't even fork over the money to play in the local TV quiz bowl competition, like all of the other high schools in the area. I have tried to recruit more QB members but, since this is a commuter school filled with mostly middle and low income students, no one wants to make the commitment to attend tournaments or even attend after-school practices. So, I will continue to take my son Alex to low-cost regional events and national events that offer us a break from $600 team fees--events like NHBB, where Alex can play in the Bees, and NASAT, where we can split the cost with kids from other PA teams. We would, though, like to play in SSNCT as our one annual big money event. To do that, though, we need a ruling that LVA is a true small school, which it most certainly is: as the principal pointed out in her message to Mr. Hentzel, the test scores of incoming students at LVA are used solely for placement purposes. The only thing that completely knocks a kid out of going to LVA is having a disciplinary violation on his record; that cannot be what NAQT means by academically "selective." And the only sure-fire way to get into the school is to be a member of the local district (Bethlehem); my son Alex lives in Allentown and had to wait his turn on the lottery before finally getting into the school a month into the 2014-15 school year.

So, would you folks be kind enough to let us know what our status is?

Thanks very much.

Our apologies for the unprofessional delays in responding to your question about Lehigh Valley Academy's small-school status.

Lehigh Valley Academy is SSNCT-eligible under NAQT's current policy (used for the 2015 SSNCT). That being said, our eligibility policy for the 2016 SSNCT has not been finalized. It is possible that we might adopt a different set of standards for the definition of "small school" in the future (based on feedback from the 2014 and 2015 SSNCTs). If a change is made to our policy, we will have it in place by the beginning of the school year, and will be sure to let you (and the coaches of other affected schools) know as soon as possible.

bird bird bird bird bird wrote:Our apologies for the unprofessional delays in responding to your question about Lehigh Valley Academy's small-school status.

Lehigh Valley Academy is SSNCT-eligible under NAQT's current policy (used for the 2015 SSNCT). That being said, our eligibility policy for the 2016 SSNCT has not been finalized. It is possible that we might adopt a different set of standards for the definition of "small school" in the future (based on feedback from the 2014 and 2015 SSNCTs). If a change is made to our policy, we will have it in place by the beginning of the school year, and will be sure to let you (and the coaches of other affected schools) know as soon as possible.

I'm just wondering if any changes were made. It is considerably past "the beginning of the school year." My students took notice that at the WRK Tournament at Alabama, we are highlighted as having qualified for HSNCT but NOT for SSNCT. That has caused some concern (that I assured them was unwarranted) that perhaps we are no longer considered a "Small School."

We have not made any changes to the SSNCT eligibilty rules for 2015-16.

The qualification rules have some minor changes. (Notably: 1) we increased the percentage of qualifying teams and 2) introduced a requirement that teams must win at least one game to automatically qualify for SSNCT.)

In general, none of the SSNCT qualifiers were posted until mid-October- we need current-year state enrollment data to verify the SSNCT eligibilty of the many schools near the 500-student enrollment cutoff.

Just out of curiosity, is there any particular reason why parochial/Christian schools aren't included in NAQT's definition of a small school?

Historically, we have treated all private schools as de facto selective (in part because tuition payments add an element of selectivity).

Wildcard applications and standby signups for the 2016 SSNCT are now open.

SSNCT field page

Is NAQT looking for staff for this? I'm not far from Chicago, so I'd be happy to help.

For those who haven't seen this yet, it appears that the SSNCT will officially be using the power-matching "Card System" of HSNCT this year. This should be interesting!

https://www.naqt.com/ssnct/2016/details.jsp

We're looking forward to it!

For teams who are in the hotel, we are now taking buzzers on the lobby level, directly across from the Hyatt check-in desks and Regency Club, under the "esc" on the wall.

Come drop your buzzers off and take advantage on the $20 early buzzer drop-off rebate! As a side bonus, you can also pet Bunnie Hadsall's dog. :)

Prelim stats for the 2016 SSNCT are here.

Playoff pairings will be available at the Information Desk at 7 am tomorrow. The first round of playoffs will begin at 8:30.

Live coverage of this year's SSNCT is available from our new Twitter account (no question content, please).

Three teams remain in contention, each with one playoff loss.

Macomb will play Lehigh Valley in round 19. The winner of that game will play Advanced Math & Science in a one-game final in round 20.

Audio recordings of 20 games from the 2016 SSNCT are now available.