COMMUNITY Dear Colleagues,
Speech and debate provides a space for many students to find their voice on issues they are passionate about. For others, it empowers them to excel academically. By interpreting literature, debating important civic topics, and memorizing/performing pieces at the highest levels, students spend their weekends in productive, structured ways that benefit themselves and our society. Imagine if every student was doing this each weekend across our country—oh, how quickly our threatened democracy would be strengthened! In 2021, in my first months as Chief Academic Officer at STRIVE Prep, a public charter school network, I embedded speech and debate in all six middle schools by reducing a 100-minute block of English to 50 minutes and adding 50 minutes of speech and debate. As a queer Black woman working in public education and serving our most vulnerable populations, I’ve always tried to make change happen now because our communities deserve better than what most public education systems currently provide. More importantly, the NSDA provided access to curriculum and encouraged participation in competitions that bring together students from all different backgrounds from all over the state. This type of integration, along educational and socio-economic lines, levels the educational playing field and bridges many opportunity gaps between myriad groups of students. In July 2022, STRIVE Prep began the process of a merger with Rocky Mountain Prep. I left the network shortly after in October 2022. Speech and debate is no longer a part of the core programming at those middle schools, but it remains the marquee program at both Rocky Mountain Prep high schools. Even with only one or two years of speech and debate in the middle schools, teachers at the high schools have seen students enter their doors with much more confidence and eagerness to start competing. Those teams have seen incredible success through their programs both in and out of rounds. Their access to competitive speech and debate is unprecedented in the underserved regions of Denver that they represent. Students who participate in these programs have higher achievement data, are accepted to and persist in college, and have more scholarship money awarded at higher rates.
Today, students need opportunities to challenge the status quo. They can do this through speech and debate by being informed on issues from multiple perspectives, challenged to write well and critically, and encouraged to collaborate, explain, and argue their perspectives. All of these experiences are provided almost year-round by the National Speech & Debate Association. Over the past couple of years, I have seen concerted efforts by the NSDA to diversify the activity by finding ways to offer the programs in lower income, Title I schools by providing funding or waiving entry fees. While there is still work to be done—like getting school districts to adopt speech and debate programming as a part of their core instruction—partnering with the NSDA is a great start, because all students deserve access to this competitive, intellectual opportunity. Sincerely,
Elisha Roberts Elisha Roberts Assistant Director of Implementation and Partnership Colorado Education Initiative
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ROSTRUM | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023
www.speechanddebate.org/advocacy