Fremont Debate Academy (FDA)

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A 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization

Est. 2014

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Color Palette

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“A debate & civics program in every school and district across the world”

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Fremont Debate Academy’s Mission

Founders

Rishabh Meswani

William Yoo

Rachit Pareek

Vasuman Moza

Data Science & Business

UC Berkeley

Class of 2021

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Irvington High

Class of 2017

Data Scientist @ Asana

Global Management, Computer Science,

& Data Science

UC Berkeley

Class of 2022

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Irvington High

Class of 2018

SWE @ Roblox

Philosophy, Politics, & Economics

Oxford University

Class of 2021

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Irvington High

Class of 2018

L/S Analyst @ Point72

Chief Executive Officer

Chief Financial Officer

Chief Educational Officer

Computer Science & Business

UC Berkeley

Class of 2022

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Irvington High

Class of 2018

SWE @ Meta

Chief Technological Officer

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What We Do

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1. Fremont Debate Academy offers training to teachers and supplies curriculum & educational materials to start district-supported and teacher-run debate programs within their own classrooms / after-school programs.
1. We offer access to a suite of resources for teachers, including 24/7 support through Slack, our specialized online course, and our extensive teaching guide.

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• Fremont Debate Academy leverages its volunteer team of experienced high school and university debaters to run free student-run debate & civics programs for elementary and middle school students in grades 4 to 8 throughout the world.
• We reach out to debaters and give them the opportunity to become local leaders in their community, teaching their younger peers to become confident, argumentative, critical thinkers in our society.

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• Fremont Debate Academy runs and supports both virtual and in-person programs that run for anywhere from 8 to 32 weeks.

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Fremont Debate Academy’s Impact since 2014

7500+ students impacted

45,000+ cumulative volunteer hours

200+ International Team

100+ Broward County, FUSD, Hayward, & Teach for America school teachers trained

Over the past 11 years, Fremont Debate Academy has run programs in 19 states & 8 countries.

Fremont Debate Academy runs an annual international debate tournament for all its programs. Last year, more than 120 top teams competed virtually.

Global Reach

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FDA District Partnership Example - Fremont Unified School District in 24-25 School Year

~850+ students impacted

500+ hours of direct instruction

150+ FUSD HS & Alumni College Volunteers

25 schools - Faculty &

PTA / Staff-Supervised Programs

FUSD continues to be the 3rd highest % of schools with a debate program among all major districts in the USA.

District Partnership: FDA x Broward County Case Study

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Debate’s Impact on Students

External Studies

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• Debaters have shown to exhibit statistically significant and substantially stronger academic/personal outcomes.
• Studies from Chicago¹ have found that debaters from urban public schools overall are 3.1 times more likely to graduate from high school. The impact of debate is greatest for those in high-risk groups.
• Researchers from University of Vermont² found that debate also improves self-esteem and reading comprehension. Debaters also saw a 36% increase in reading test scores, 87% increase in analytical skills, and a 31% increase in regular attendance.

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Fremont Debate Academy’s (FDA) internal study

• Students participating in FDA’s programs saw a 39.1% improvement in their self-confidence & public speaking skills.
• Students participating in FDA’s programs saw a 45.9% improvement in their worldly knowledge & research skills.
• 90% of students said participating in FDA’s programs has had a positive impact on their academic performance.
• Students participating in 3-5 years of FDA’s programs saw a 11-13% increase in the outcomes above than those students participating in 1-2 years of FDA’s programs.

¹ http://egdcfoundation.org/work/assets/Effects-of-Participating-in-Organized-Debate-on-Academic-Achievement-1997-2007.pdf

^{2 https://debate.uvm.edu/dcpdf/DEBATE-%20Important%20for%20Everyone.pdf}

Teacher’s Guide

Content & Topic Presentations / Guides

Online & Paper Worksheets

Instructional Videos from Youtube Channel

Logistics & Recommendations

Supplemental online course

Fremont Debate Academy’s education team has developed world-class curriculum that provides teachers all that they need to run a 8 week after-school debate program in-person or virtually. All curriculum aligns with Common Core Standards.

Solution - Curriculum

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Parent engagement!

Impact on District Enrollment

• Research from the Brookings Institution indicates that extra-curricular programming is the third most common discussed topic among parents when deciding schools. Debate is the only non-athletic program in the study mentioned as positively associated with schools that have high parent engagement.

Parent discussing Hirsch elementary (GreatSchools.org!)

“My children have been involved with the FDA for more than 4 years starting from elementary school. I found out much later that this was a volunteer run program and I was flabbergasted. It’s a very professionally run, very efficient organization and it’s commendable that this is totally volunteer run. My children have learned the formats and participated in many tournaments and my daughter is very keen on pursuing debate at a competitive level in high school. If FDA hadn’t been there I would have had to find other expensive and inconvenient alternates. Offering these programs at every school makes it very convenient for parents and children form a permanent bond with their team members. I also like the cyclical format with which this is run. After few years of learning and becoming adept, kids can volunteer in various capacities such as teaching, running the program etc which teaches them other skills including entrepreneurship. I highly recommend that FDA be a part of the curriculum for every Fremont school and our children make a mark at the US level for debate”

-Parent Sarwat Amina

75+ public comments when we presented to a local School District Board!

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What does an FDA elementary / middle school program look like?

Logistics

• Generally a 8+ week after-school program
• Once a week for 1-1.5 hours

Session Content

• Utilizes the Middle School Public Debate Format designed by Claremont Mckenna College
• Format is designed for 4th to 8th grade students
• First 3-4 weeks focused on teaching the basics and drills
• Next few weeks include practice debates & feedback
• Final week is a showcase debate for parents

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