The Providence Urban Debate League will sponsor a Public Action Debate moderated by Mayor David Cicilline at 4:00pm on Saturday, March 15th. The debate, to be held in the Auditorium of Mt. Pleasant High School, will focus on the question of Standardized Testing in the high schools. All parents, students, and citizens are encouraged to attend. There will be a 20 minute public Q & A session.

The Public Debate will cap a full day of interscholastic policy debate at Mount Pleasant High School.

The Providence Urban Debate League (UDL) is a cooperative project of the Swearer Center for Public Service and the Institute for Elementary and Secondary Education (IESE) at Brown, the Providence Schools District, the Rhode Island Foundation, and the Open Society Institute in New York. Since the 2000-2001 pilot season, the UDL has successfully engaged young people all of the Providence Public High Schools. The long-term goal of the UDL is to enable member schools to institutionalize debate teams and foster growth in the local debate circuit so as to make debate accessible to all students.

This program is modeled after urban debate leagues across the country which foster communication skills to empower individuals while working towards improving academic skills. There are currently urban debate league programs in Seattle, San Francisco, Southern California, Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Kansas City, Atlanta, Tuscaloosa, Newark, and New York City. The success of this innovative strategy to promote standards-based literacy increases debate's importance in an education system increasingly conscious of standards and literacy.


Visit the Providence Urban Debate League Website