National Association for Urban Debate Leagues

NAUDL will accomplish our overall mission and vision by (1) Within the next five years, triple the number of students who participate in competitive policy debate through NAUDL-affiliated urban debate leagues. (2) Strengthen and support affiliated leagues, helping them to build capacity, achieve sustainable growth, and adopt best practices. (3) Build new leagues at a moderate pace, focusing efforts on large school districts and cities with strategic value. (4) Expand middle school policy debate and explore Debate Across the Curriculum as an innovative way to expand the number of students participating in rigorous, evidence-based argument. (5) Empower the NAUDL and its affiliated leagues to be more effective advocates for urban debate. (6) With support from the NAUDL Governing Board, establish a diversified, sustainable national base of support.

The NAUDL's goal is to triple the number of urban debaters in the next five years. The NAUDL Governing Board and its staff believe that while this goal is ambitious, it is also achievable. The board is committed to achieving this goal through a multifaceted strategy which includes: strengthening and supporting the existing leagues; expanding programming into middle schools and the classroom; continuing to build new leagues; conducting long-term research on the impact of debate on the futures of urban youth; and more effectively communicating the benefits of debate to students, teachers, principals and school administrators.

NAUDL will assess progress through a variety of numerical metrics. These metrics will (1) focus on the NAUDL's primary goal of tripling the number of students; (2) incorporate the programming goals established by each local league; and, (3) adequately account for the number of students and others reached by all forms of league programming, including tournament debates, classroom debates, and public debates. Furthermore, working with a third party vendor, develop and implement a computer-based system that can be used to (1) register students for tournaments; (2) tabulate tournaments; and, (3) report student participation data to the NAUDL and the affiliated leagues. Test the software, and then make it available to all leagues, with training and support for coaches and league directors.

The National Association for Urban Debate Leagues (NAUDL) is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Since 2002 it has served as the national leadership organization for urban debate. In the last four years the NAUDL has built or re-organized twelve urban debate leagues. Today, 22 urban debate leagues around the country are members of the NAUDL's informal network of leagues. NAUDL has a twenty-two member Governing Board of Directors and an eleven-member Honorary Board. The organization has six full-time and one part-time staff members.