UNITED STATES
QUIZ BOWL
ASSOCIATION
Long Term Goal:
Increase the amount of good Quiz Bowl by working together on a national level.
Part of this effort involves differentiating good Quiz Bowl from bad Quiz Bowl.
Short Term Goals:
Define 'good Quiz Bowl' or begin the process of doing so.
Identify projects that will support the long term goal.
Identify people who are willing to lead these projects.
Determine a plan for following through.
This packet has been prepared by David Reinstein <reinsted@newtrier.k12.il.us>. It has been
influenced significantly by the commenters at The
World of High School Quizbowl Message Board
<www.hsquizbowl.org>. Credit is also due to the Steering Committee of the
Illinois High School Scholastic Bowl Coaches Association.
Because of the limited amount of progress that can
be made in a single meeting, this organization will only be successful if the
processes started here are continued. The email address and URL given above can
be used for further communications.
Many examples in this packet are taken from
Already existing organizations:
* NAQT (Robert Hentzel)
Writes questions and policies for a lot of tournaments,
runs national tournament, publishes newsletter, makes it financially easy to
run tournaments in undeveloped areas
* PACE (Emil Thomas Chuck & David Bykowski)
Runs national tournament, awards Ben Cooper Academic
Ambassador Award, affiliates with good tournaments, willing to do more to
promote good Quiz Bowl
* QU (Chip Beall)
Runs national tournament and a series of
competitions over the internet
* Academic Hallmarks
Runs Knowledge Master Open, a national competition
schools compete in from home
* PAC
Runs national tournament for All-State/State
Champion Teams and selects All America Team
* ACE (Carlotta Wright & JR Barry)
Runs Quiz Bowl Camps in two locations each summer
* World of High School Quizbowl
http://www.hsquizbowl.org/ (Matt Weiner)
Provides a forum for people from across the country
to communicate
* State Organizations (See Appendix A)
What could a new national organization accomplish?
A. Defining good Quiz Bowl
B. Rating question suppliers, buzzer systems,
moderators, and tournaments
C. Recognizing outstanding contributions (PACE does
this a little)
D. Proofreading questions
E. Mirroring tournaments
F. Publicizing Quiz Bowl
G. Standardizing Quiz Bowl format
H. Standardizing question distribution
I. Coordinating state organizations
J. Organizing a convention
K. Educating new coaches and tournament directors
L. Raising money
M. National middle school championship
N. Keeping a national calendar (hsquizbowl.org does
this to some degree)
O. Setting ethical standards
P. Needs Survey
Q. Promote participation by women and people of
color
R. Spread Quiz Bowl into states where it does not
exist
Summary of Jobs
What must be done to start the United States Quiz
Bowl Association?
A. Defining Good
Quiz Bowl
From JR Barry:
1. I like pyramid tossups because they reward deeper
knowledge and can be used to teach deeper knowledge. But I prefer tossups that
are NOT longer than 4-5 sentences.
2. I want a balance of tossups
by broad category. I want every round's tossups to be balanced and every
round's bonuses to be balanced.
3. I prefer question formulas that do NOT overuse social studies
categories. That is somewhat ironic as I have taught high school SS for 31
years now. I like 25% social studies (that includes all the social sciences and
current events), 25% literature with mythology included in this section; 25%
sciences; 12.5 fine arts, and 12.5 mathematics.
4. I prefer questions that do not end up with videogame (or other
trash) endings so that a player can answer a Shakespeare question because
he/she knows some video game character. Let's answer a Shakespeare question
because we know some Shakespeare and not because we know the name of a movie
dog who shares that name with a comic figure.
From David Reinstein:
5. Questions should cover material from strong high
school curricula. There also needs to be an attempt to cover the most important
ideas, works, events, people, and places in the history of our universe,
planet, and species.
Recently proposed to Illinois High School
Association:
* For non-computational toss-ups, the preferred style is multi-clue, starting with a more challenging clue and ending with a clue that most teams should reasonably be expected to answer correctly. Buzzer-beater questions that virtually any team can be expected to answer after hearing only a few words are discouraged. Toss-ups should begin in a way that uniquely identifies the answer so that an expert in the subject could answer early without having to guess what the question is asking for.
* For non-computational bonus questions, the preferred style for each part is straight forward or single-clue, with brevity a consideration. This guideline is not intended to stifle creativity, limit necessary information, or require that all bonus parts be easy. Like a home run in baseball, sweeping all parts of a bonus should be rare; answering at least one part should be common.
* Question writers and/or
editors are encouraged to consider and research alternative correct answers
and/or common, similar, or related incorrect answers and to list them with
instructions to the moderator to “accept also,” “do not accept,” or “prompt
on.”
* The vast majority of questions
should be academic in nature and relevant to topics typically taught in
* Questions should be pristine: up-to-date,
unavailable to teams before competition, and not copied from secondary sources.
Many people believe that it would be very helpful to
convene a panel with representatives that would define Good Quiz Bowl. This
would create a standard that would help people across the country move academic
competitions in the right direction. It would also be helpful in many of the
projects mentioned in this pamphlet.
B. Rating question
suppliers, tournaments, buzzer systems, and moderators
(See Appendix B Part I and Part II)
How can a Tournament Director or coach figure out
which products to spend money on? As of now, word-of-mouth and advertising are
the only ways to get information.
Once there is some agreement on what defines good
question writing, a panel could be put together to judge how well writers are
living up to those standards. Somebody would have to be in charge of rounding
up the panel, soliciting questions and distributing them to the panel, and posting
results. It would also be helpful if samples were more easily available.
One way to get information on buzzer systems would
be through user surveys. Somebody would have to be in charge of designing the
survey, getting people to fill it out, and posting the results.
In sports, the process of certifying moderators is
often threefold: a written test, attendance at a rules meeting, and ratings by
coaches. Without a set of national rules, it would be difficult (though not
impossible) to write a test or organize a clinic. There is a model of moderator
rating cards that could be used for coach ratings, though somebody would have
to step forward to publicize and tabulate the cards. (See Appendix C)
I believe that a combination of methods should be
used to rate tournaments. A very important factor in any quiz bowl tournament
is the questions, and the questions could be rated as described above (even if
they are house-written). Other aspects of the tournaments could be rated the
same way that buzzer systems are rated.
C. Recognizing
outstanding contributions
PACE already oversees the Ben Cooper Award
to be presented to a high school academic competition team member, advisor, or
organization whose character best promotes the spirit and honor of quiz bowl
competition. PAC has All-America Team related to its
tournament. In the past, there has been a poll to determine top teams—something
like that could be revived if there was enough interest.
Should there be an All-America Team based on overall
competition? How would the team be selected? One model would be to have
nominations by coaches with votes cast by state representatives. (For example,
each state could have up to two voters who would rate the top twenty students.
There would have to be a limit on the number of candidates each state could
forward, perhaps by the voters from that state narrowing down their state’s
list to ten or so people.) To see an sample nomination
form, see Appendix D.
Should there be a coaches/contributors hall of fame?
The system used to select Hall of Famers could be
similar to the system for the All-America Team above, though not necessarily
involving the same people.
D. Proofreading
questions
There are qualified editors willing to fix packets
for relatively cheap prices, especially if the question writing is
professional, and there are many house-written tournaments, state tournaments,
and professional writers who would benefit from editing. Many of the editors
are associated with the college circuit.
A national organization could seek out good editors,
find out what conditions they are willing to work under, and publicize them to
writers and tournament directors.
E. Mirroring
tournaments
There are many good tournaments throughout the
country that use house-written questions and only attract teams from their
region. There are also many tournament directors willing to pay hundreds of
dollars for good questions. (Unfortunately, they often pay hundreds of dollars
for bad questions.) A national organization could match the tournaments with
in-house questions to the questions in need of questions.
F. Publicizing Quiz
Bowl
Publicity has two possible avenues—the reporting of
Quiz Bowl in newspapers and magazines and on television and radio, and the
existence of televised Quiz Bowl.
As far as we know, the best way to increase coverage
of existing Quiz Bowl tournaments is to contact the media often via press
releases, letters, emails, and phone calls. If we have a national calendar
(Section N), the next step would be having people contact the media before the
tournament to announce it and after the tournament to report results.
Though I am not aware of any list of televised
tournaments, they do exist in pockets throughout the country. The most
successful one may be It’s Academic in the
The existence of a national organization hopefully
would lead to the leaders in this area sharing lessons with the majority of us
who have had limited success getting publicity.
G. Standardizing
Quiz Bowl format
Currently, there are a lot of different rules for
Quiz Bowl (and even different names for Quiz Bowl) throughout the country. Some
of the obvious differences include the use of worksheets, lightning rounds, four
quarter formats, bonus bouncebacks, bonusless tossups, team size, question distributions
(Section H), bonus formats, and lengths of tossups.
A national organization could, at the very least,
make the various rules easily available so that teams know what to expect when
they attend tournaments out-of-state and so that state Rules Committees could
find out what others are doing. There could also be some research into why
different formats are preferred.
If there was support for more uniformity, a committee
could be put together to make recommendations. These recommendations probably
would be unevenly adopted by various states, so that the problem would continue
to exist, but it could be lessened. The committee could make limited
recommendations based on the rules thought to be most important, or it could
prioritize its recommendations.
H. Standardizing
question distribution
Here are some current distributions:
PACE (# of Tossups/Bonuses per round):
Science & Math 6/6; History 6/5; Literature 5/5;
Arts 3/3; Religion, Mythology, Philosophy 3/3; Social Science 1/2; Geography
1/2; Current Events 1/2; General Knowledge 1/1; Trash 1/1
NAQT (taken from collegiate survey):
Current Events 7.5%; Fine Arts
7.0%; Foreign Language 0.5%; Geography 7.0%; General Knowledge/Mixed 5.5%;
History 18.5%; Literature/Mythology 18.5%; Popular Culture 7.5%; Philosophy
2.0%; Science 18.5%; Sports 4.0%; Social Science 3.5%
IHSA (
Fine Arts 13%, Literature/Language
Arts 20%, Math 20%, Miscellaneous 7%, Science 20%, Social Studies 20%
GATA (Georgia):
Fine Arts 10-15%, Literature 25%, Math 10-15%,
Science 25%, Social Studies 25%
Possible Windows of Acceptability:
Social Studies: 20-40%, Math/Science: 20-40%,
Literature: 15-30%, Fine Arts: 5-20%, Trash/Miscellaneous: 0-15%
In some senses, this is a subcategory of
standardizing format. A committee could be put together to discuss the issues
involved in putting together a recommended distribution.
I. Coordinating
state organizations
This could be done in conjunction with a needs
survey (Section P). If we are to form a national organization, we need to
contact state organizations to find out what their needs and priorities are. We
would also need to find out what contributions they are willing to make and who
are the appropriate people to contact. Some research
would need to go into find out what formats are out there in order to bring
about a standard format and distribution (Sections G and H). Another important
function of a national organization would be researching what each state does
well. When a state is doing something better than
J. Organizing a
convention
I do
not see this as something that could be done in the next year on a national
level, but it could be helpful to many coaches if there was a national
convention or several regional conventions. Possible topics that could be
addressed include some type of rules meeting, practice and preparation, tips
for new coaches, building school and community support, tips for new tournament
directors, a vendor display area, moderating, gametime
strategy, how to run a league, starting a team, question writing, question
editing, internet resources, funding, publicizing, and setting goals.
K. Educating new
coaches and tournament directors
There are a few ways to do this: newsletters,
published articles, and mentoring. The convention mentioned above would also be
useful.
L. Raising money
Though many of the projects listed in this pamphlet do
not require money, some of them do. Money could be helpful in expanding quiz
bowl, publicizing quiz bowl, and sending out mailings.
Money could be raised through fees, membership dues,
charges to state associations, or corporate sponsorship.
M. National middle
school championship
There are currently four national high school
championships but no national middle school championships. If such a tournament
is a good idea, then who should organize it? I would recommend that we
encourage somebody to organize such a tournaments but
that we do not start one ourselves because of the amount of time and effort
that would be required from an organization still defining itself.
N. Keeping a
national calendar
Currently, many state organizations keep a calendar,
there is an underused database at hsquizbowl.org, hosts make posts at
hsquizbowl.org, and NAQT keeps a list of its tournaments. Would it be helpful
if somebody put as many tournaments as possible into a calendar in html or pdf format on the internet? Ideally, such a calendar would
include contact info and ratings of the questions and tournaments themselves.
(Section B)
O. Setting ethical
standards
GATA (Georgia) Code of Ethics for Coaches and Students (written in 2000)
Coaches will…
1. Play honestly, taking particular care to avoid communication with players during matches and to report promptly to tournament officials if the questions have been heard previously.
2. Treat readers and other tournament workers with respect, making and discussing protests in an appropriate manner and accepting decisions graciously.
3. Treat all teams, especially their own, with respect.
4. Inform tournament officials of their withdrawing from a tournament in a timely manner.
5. Know and follow tournament rules and requirements, bringing the designated number of accompanying adult supervisors, tournament workers and working buzzer systems, etc., to the tournament.
6. Give complete information regarding the tournament rules, requirements and procedures to their teams and to all those accompanying their teams,* prior to the tournament.
7. Be responsible for the behavior of their teams and of those accompanying their teams.*
8. Be responsible for the respectful care and treatment of the host school's equipment and f facilities by their teams and by all those who accompany their teams.
9. Refrain from making disparaging remarks about the host school's facilities.
10. Allow tournament officials to do their jobs without interference.
Coaches should encourage the growth of new academic team programs.
* Includes adult supervisors, parents, other family members, student spectators, etc.
Students will…
1. Play honestly.
2. Treat readers and other tournament workers with respect.
3. Refer questions and concerns to their coaches for appropriate handling.
4. Display good sportsmanship at all times, especially by winning or losing graciously, communicating positively with the opposing team and expressing appreciation to readers and other tournament workers.
5. Display appropriate behavior both during and between rounds, especially by being in designated areas only, avoiding profanity, refraining from intentional distractions during their matches and from creating disturbances that may distract from ongoing play in other rooms.
6. Take respectful care in using equipment (particularly buzzer systems) and facilities throughout the host school.
7. Refrain from disturbing anything in the playing rooms that is unrelated to the tournament.
8. Be positive representatives of their schools.
9. Follow their school's dress code.
A national panel could meet to revise these standards and discuss other steps that could be taken with regard to standards.
P. Needs Survey
To decide what priorities a national organization
should have, it would be useful to survey states and schools. It would be
helpful to find out the strengths and weaknesses of quiz bowl in various states
and across the country. Additionally, it would be helpful to find out what
priorities teams have for improving our activity.
Q. Promote
participation by women and people of color
Frankly, I have no idea how to do this. Hopefully, somebody could help in this area.
R. Spread Quiz Bowl
into states where it does not exist
NAQT has already taken a positive step in this direction by offering free question sets into states that do not have NAQT. Perhaps other people have ideas on how this can be done.
Summary of Jobs:
Chair
Defining Good Quiz Bowl Moderator
Question Writing Evaluation Panel Moderator
Buzzer Survey Designer
Moderator Certification Supervisor
Tournament Evaluation Manager
All-America Team Selection Moderator
National Champion Poll Moderator
Hall of Fame Moderator
Proofreading Supervisor
Tournament Mirror Supervisor
Publicity Reporter
Televised Tournament Coordinator
Standardized Format Moderator
Standardized Distribution Moderator
State Organization Liaison
Convention Planner
New Coach Liaison
Fundraiser
Middle School Tournament Researcher (goal is not for tournament to be run by this organization)
Middle School Liaison
Calendar Organizer
Ethics Moderator
Needs Survey Supervisor
Inclusiveness Ombudsman
Inactive Areas Liaison
If an organization were to come into existence, jobs such as Treasurer, Secretary, and Webmaster would also need to be created. Other than Chair, these jobs could be held by people who are not coaches, including high school and college students.
What must be done
to start the
At this point, I am not recommending the formation of a new organization. If progress is made on the goals in this pamphlet, however, then a new national organization may become the best way to organize and grow. My opinion is that this organization would best be run primarily by coaches, though it would need all the help it could get.
My hope is that people will volunteer for the jobs listed and that the existence of these projects will improve Quiz Bowl in many ways and in many places. I believe that many good things will happen when coaches from different states work together, and I have outlined ways for them to do so.
Some of the existing organizations listed at the beginning of this pamphlet have already said that they are willing to help us. This will make it easier for us to get started—though we don’t have a website, we have space we can borrow for now. Though we don’t have a newsletter, we already have allies to help us spread our message.
Appendix A: http://www.naqt.com/state-organizations.html
Appendix B: http://www.ihssbca.org/QSOURCE.PDF &
http://www.ihssbca.org/LSOURCE.PDF
Appendix C: http://www.ihssbca.org/ModeratorRatingCard.pdf
Appendix D: http://www.ihssbca.org/ALLSECT06.PDF