Tulsa Debate League
Debate education for all Tulsa students
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
There is an opportunity gap in low-income schools in our city when it comes to high quality education programs that develop critical thinking skills. When schools are unable to offer debate education programs that are accessible and rigorous, students in those schools miss out on opportunities to develop critical thinking skills, self-confidence and voice. These skills are vital to postsecondary success.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Urban Debate League
The Tulsa Debate League supports an urban debate league for Tulsa area public schools to participate in competitive debate.
Where we work
External reviews

Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of participants engaged in programs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Urban Debate League
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Our impact is measured by the number of debaters times the average tournaments attended per debater. Students who attend 3 or more tournaments are more likely to be college ready.
Average daily attendance
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Urban Debate League
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
This metric is actually "average student tournament attendances" per year. Our goal is an average greater than or equal to 3.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Modeled after the most effective urban debate leagues in the country, we aim to transform Title 1 public schools by organizing competitions, operating summer camps, and provide professional development to teachers and coaches. As a result, students in our program will develop 21st century skills such as critical thinking, communication, and creativity that are the cornerstone of postsecondary success. Research shows that debate can dramatically close the achievement gap in urban school districts - debaters are more likely to graduate from high school, meet college-readiness benchmarks and achieve greater cumulative grade point average than their peers.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Our core strategy is to develop inclusive but challenging debate programming. Debate teaches students how to support ideas with evidence, how to analyze the weaknesses in opposing arguments, but also how to empathize with and understand differing viewpoints. Delivering debate education to a large number of students in low-income schools means creating the right community for debate to flourish - one where all students are welcome and where effort and participation are emphasized over competition. This manifests itself in every aspect of our organization, from the training of teachers and volunteers, to the attitude of staff at tournaments.
It is important to acknowledge that many students in our schools are not reading on grade level or have other skill deficits. While our goal is the same - to challenge every student to becomes their best selves, we recognize that we first have to meet students where they are. Therefore, we have created a curriculum that differentiates for student ability levels.
Teacher professional development is the core of our work. Most of our teachers come to us with no or little background in debate. We create workshops, curriculum, and systems of support that build novice teachers into effective debate educators.
Finally, we operate a two to three week summer camp, free to our students, which provides students with an intensive learning experience during months when learning loss is high.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
1. Partnerships with local school districts and mission-aligned charter schools.
2. Mobilization of dedicated school day partners and community members as debate coaches.
3. Relationships with key community leaders
4. Partnerships with key like-minded organizations like the Opportunity Project.
5. Our two 21st Century Learning Communities at Will Rogers High School and Daniel Webster
High School.
6. Philanthropic relationships we have cultivated over the past several years.
7. Placing our staff in positions that play to their individual strengths and passions.
8. Our unwavering organizational belief that debate, in some form, is for every student.
9. Our Debate For All program at McLain High School, Monroe Demonstration Academy and
Central High School. This program will launch in the fall of 2020. We have partnered with TPS
and each school’s administration to provide access to debate to significant portions of their
respective student bodies.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
The organization has grown from a small fund supporting one debate team to an integral part of our district partners' education offerings, supporting 35 schools and over 550 students in 2020. We were recognized for our achievements as a finalize for the Oklahoma Nonprofits Excellence (ONE) Awards, Oklahoma's most prestigious nonprofit recognition. https://www.oklahomacenterfornonprofits.org/tulsa-debate-league-2020-one-awards-finalist/
Next year, we plan on pioneering the Debate for All Program, a new initiative by the Tulsa Debate League to transform the academic culture of middle and high school student body through debate education..We are partnering with Tulsa Public Schools to bring debate education to three mission aligned schools in our league. Typically our debate program is limited to a few classes during the school day for our high schools and afterschool programs for our elementary and middle school partners. With Debate for All we are partnering to expand debate education is a multi-year program that teaches debate’s powerful critical thinking and communication skills to an entire grade level. We provide a complete curriculum, professional development that provides instructors with a framework to implement debate’s critical thinking and communication skills into their daily lessons, an expert consultant to train and support the instructors, and a schedule of tournaments and events for students to put their new knowledge to the test. We also provide an after school debate practice for students to continue learning during out-of-school time
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Tulsa Debate League
Board of directorsas of 04/15/2022
Conor Cleary
Department of Interior
Term: 2020 -
Drew France
Community Action Project Tulsa
Daniel Blaho
DSB Creative
Conor Cleary
United States Department of Interior
Marianne Brett
Mary Huckabee
Conner & Winters
Taylor Burke
Barber & Bartz
Emily Fuller
Oklahoma Caring Foundation
Aba Hammond
ONEGas
Patrick Garcia
Stokely Events
Kristopher Copeland
Tulsa Community College
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? No -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data