Several state high school athletic associations decided to use factors other than enrollment to classify sports teams. They all started with the same goal of improving competitive balance. They all came up with different ways to do it.
Some states have adopted a system like the one being considered by the Georgia High School Association, with schools or teams moving up or down in classes based on formulas that measure success. Other states adjust school enrollment figures based on how many low-income students attend. Retention rates are considered in some states. In others, different enrollment formulas are used for private schools or they are placed in different postseason competitions altogether.
Nearly half of the 50 U.S. states have some form of competitive-balance system. None of them are exactly alike.
“It is all over the place,” said Karissa L. Niehoff, CEO of the National Federation of State High School Associations. “You start with enrollment, then you look at some of the historical trends and success rates. You might look at strength of conference. You might look at attrition rates. You might look at socioeconomic factors (for students).
“There are so many factors that could be considered. If an algorithm or (artificial intelligence) could do this, then look out. But it’s a really complicated process.”
An NFHS member survey 2017 found that 21 states used factors other than enrollment when classifying sports teams. Since then, two more states (Iowa and South Dakota) have adopted competitive-balance formulas. Georgia is among the 27 states that consider only enrollment when classifying scholastic sports teams.
That could change soon. The GHSA’s executive committee recently discussed the “Competitive Balance Reclassification Model” at its meeting in Macon. Under the proposal, the five schools in each class with the most successful sports programs would move up one level every two years while the five least successful programs would move down. Success would be measured by results in state tournaments and meets over a three-year span.
The Indiana High School Athletic Association has used a similar classification system since 2012. The “tournament success factor” awards an increasing number of points to teams for each round of the playoffs that they reach. Teams in football, basketball, baseball, softball, soccer and volleyball are moved up if they accumulate a certain number of points over a two-year period. Schools that move up are moved back down if they don’t accumulate enough points at the new level, unless their enrollment has increased enough for them to remain in the same classification.
The IHSAA adopted the success factor after some classes saw the same schools dominating tournaments over several years.
“How you determine ‘success’ is always going to be met (with questions),” IHSAA commissioner Paul Neidig said. “If a school is having a lot of success in tournament at one level they and they move up, then the schools remaining believe they have an opportunity. The school that does get moved up would just as soon stay in the class they were in.
“Like with any of these kinds of things, there’s always a little give and take to find the right balance.”
The California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section decided to take a novel approach to increasing competitive balance. The “competitive equity” model consider team success, like other states, when setting playoff brackets for football. But instead of adjusting every two or three years, the CIF does so at the end of each regular season by using a computer ranking system.
That means football teams in the area don’t know their potential playoff opponents until the end of the regular season. Mike Wise, commissioner of athletics for CIF-Southern Section, said the format caused consternation among some football coaches when it was adopted in 2018. The system has since become “quite popular,” Wise said.
This year the CIF-Southern Section voted to start using the competitive-equity model for other sports.
“What we’ve seen in particular with the first-round (playoff) pairings is the score differentials are a lot closer than what they used to be,” Wise said. “Instead of blowouts and running clocks in the first round there is, by and large, a lot more competitiveness. In particular in the lower divisions, we are seeing teams get in and compete with schools they should be competing with and not stuck in a division where traditionally they have struggled.”
Some states that adopted competitive-balance models chose to focus on student demographics rather than team success. The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association’s “competitive equity modifier” considers the “stability rate” and “high-needs percentage” of students at schools when creating divisional alignments.
The stability rate measures how many students remain enrolled in a school throughout the year. The MIAA uses that metric because students who are in and out of school “would not have a meaningful impact” on athletics participation. Those students are subtracted from each school’s enrollment.
The high-needs percentage includes students who are classified as economically disadvantaged, special education or English language learners. Schools with population of high-needs students above the state average have their enrollment decreased on a sliding scale for purposes of athletics classification.
Sean Mackin, the athletic director for Chicopee Public Schools, is one of the architects of the competitive-equity model adopted by the MIAA. Mackin said the “professionalization of youth sports” has created fewer athletic opportunities for kids from low-income families because parents can’t afford to enroll them in leagues.
“In Massachusetts, we were seeing that in areas of lower socioeconomic status versus higher economic status, the disparity in wealth leads to success or lack of success in high school athletics,” Mackin said.
Niehoff, CEO of the national association, said friction between private and public schools often is a driving force behind changes in classification systems. Small private schools located in large metropolitan areas dominate their competition in many states. Marist and Westminster have done so for more than 20 years in Georgia.
Under the GHSA’s competitive-balance proposal, those schools likely would be among those that move up in class based on success. Private schools no longer would compete in separate postseason tournaments if the GHSA adopts the classification model.
Niehoff said competitive balance in high school sports has been a topic of debate for decades. It’s the reason why classifications based on enrollment were adopted in the first place. Niehoff said officials who decide to consider other factors start with enrollment and then look at the history of results while trying to answer the question: “What is the true story here?”
“Has it been a dominance over the last five to 10 years, or did they have a good batch of student-athletes that come through, and now they go back to middle-ground achievement,” Niehoff said. “Kids come and go. Where you have solid programs, you don’t want to take away from outstanding coaches that just do it well. You don’t want to penalize excellent programs. ...
“This a big decision for Georgia. But I know it won’t be done arbitrarily.”
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