Middle School Mission Statement

OSDA Ethical Standards 

The Ohio Speech and Debate Association will provide a unique competitive speech and debate experience to meet the specific educational needs of middle school students and help them practice and develop communication and critical thinking skills. 

OSDA Generative AI Guidance

The OSDA recognizes that generative AI provides educational opportunities for students and is expanding in its applications. While generative AI can be used to guide students to articles, ideas, and sources, the OSDA asserts that using or paraphrasing text from generative AI as a student’s original work in competition is a violation of the OSDA’s ethical standards. Additionally, text from generative AI cannot be used as evidence in a round (debate, congress, extemp). The original source of any quoted or paraphrased evidence must be available if requested.