Math Madness Team Event

*********************************************************************************************************************

ALERT #1: Our Mini-Madness event will start the week of February 21, 2021, and run through the last week of March. It is basically Math Madness without the bracket tournament at the end. As such, please see below for an understanding of the event's structure, requirements, and registration details. Prices for this event are the same at all levels, ES/MS/HS: \($\)145.00 (minimum 5 students but no max team size). The ES event will be fueled by content from fall 2019 Math Madness. The MS and HS events will be fueled by content from years previous to 2019.

ALERT #2: We are re-running our fall Math Madness event this spring! It will be offered at all 3 levels: ES/MS/HS. A lot of schools faced considerable time constraints at the beginning of the fall semester, precluding their ability to participate. Hopefully, with Covid protocols in place and routines normalized, such teams can now participate in math competition events. At least, that option will be available here. For MS and HS teams, the prices will be reduced to \($\)165.00 for 5-10 players, \($\)225.00 for 11-30 players, and \($\)275.00 for unlimited players. For ES teams, the prices will be \($\)95.00 for 5-20 players and \($\)145.00 for unlimited players. This event will start the first week of March - see full calendar below.

FOR BOTH THESE EVENTS, STUDENTS CAN PLAY FROM HOME!

*********************************************************************************************************************

                                                              MATH MADNESS DETAILS

100% Online, beginning as a joint initiative between American Mathematics Competitions (AMC) and AreteLabs and entering its 8th season, Math Madness is emerging as the premiere online math competition event in the United States. In 2019, over 700 schools and nearly 15,000 students from across the country competed in the online league, tournament and championship.

Math Madness takes place in the fall (although the event is being re-run in the spring of 2021) with one event held for high school teams (9th-12th), one for middle school teams (6th-8th), and one for elementary school teams (3rd-5th). A team may consist of students from multiple grade levels within the defined grade span. This event has been designed to accommodate the various schedules of schools throughout the country. The structure of the event is as follows:

Feb 28 - Mar 6:        Practice Round

Mar 7 - Mar 13:        Collaboration Round I (Fun round where kids work together in mini-teams)

Mar 14 - Mar 20:      Collaboration Round II

Mar 21 - Mar 27:      Qualifying Round I (Students play individually but as a team)

Mar 28 - Apr 3:         Qualifying Round II (Last week to register)

Apr 4 - Apr 10:          OFF for Easter

Apr 11 - Apr 17:        Bracket Round I (Single Elimination - all teams are assigned to one of a series of brackets)

Apr 18 - Apr 24:        Bracket Round II 

Apr 25 - May 1:         Bracket Round III (Teams that lost in Bracket Round I can resume playing in informal, "Opt-in" matches)

May 2 - May 8:          Bracket Round IV 

May 9 - May 15:        Bracket Round V

May 16 - May 22:      Bracket Championship

* Teams are NOT required to play in all of the above rounds. Instead, they may opt in or out from week to week as they wish.

The system arranges all matches for all rounds. Each match involves 2 teams and each round lasts 1 week. All matches are 30 minutes in length. A team can compete at any time during a given round. It can change its time to play during the round and from round to round, as well as the players it fields. It may also opt of rounds in which it cannot play. Indeed, maximum scheduling flexibility and minimal teacher time/energy commitment are the hallmarks of this event. In fact, the only 2 responsibilities of a teacher throughout the entire season are to add students to the team and choose the time to play each round.

If a team chooses the same time to play as its opponent, the match is live with both team scores updating in real time on the student's scoreboard. If teams cannot find a common time to compete, then each team plays at a time convenient for it, with final results posting after both teams have played. The student's individual score also updates in real time as questions are answered correctly. This patented, live scoring framework thrills students and distinguishes this event from all other competition activities currently available.

Each match includes 7-8 multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank questions. Team score is calculated by summing the top 5 individual scores. Content at the high school level is primarily aligned with AMC 10/12, at the middle school level with AMC 8, and at the elementary level with the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade Common Core State Standards (CCSS). As the season progresses, rankings of the top 50% of individuals and teams are published to highlight achievement and to help members of the greater community measure their own effort and progress.

During the opening four rounds, teams are matched first by skill level so that the competition is even and then by common time availability so that teams can play live where possible. Data from the 2 qualifying rounds are used to determine bracket assignments. The top 64 teams are assigned to the Title bracket. Remaining teams are then evenly placed in additional brackets based on team size, with all teams competing in a bracket. Within each bracket, teams are sorted by skill and seeded accordingly, following NCAA March Madness protocol.

Those teams that are eliminated from a bracket can nonetheless extend their season by opting in to play against other similarly situated teams in weekly matches automatically arranged by the system. In addition, a teacher can separately challenge another team to a match or divide his/her team into multiple teams that play against each other. Content from the present season and past seasons is made available to fuel such additional competition activity. Thus, all teams can play a full 10-round season if they choose.

To participate, a teacher must (1) activate a free account (click here), (2) create a team once inside the account by clicking the "+Team" button, and then (3) register that team on the Events page, selecting "High", "Middle" or "Elementary" depending on the team's level. A teacher may register multiple teams for Math Madness from the same account. However, the same team cannot compete in two separate levels of Math Madness. Upon request, Math Madness content from years prior can be placed in a newly activated account so that a teacher can both review content appropriateness as well as create a match for students to better determine potential interest in the experience. Students or parents may NOT register a team for Math Madness. Occasionally an exception to this rule is merited but approval must be granted first.

Register by Feb 26th to be included in a practice round, by March 5th to be included in the opening round. Late registration will remain open until April 2nd. Teams that register by this date, while missing the intervening rounds, are nonetheless guaranteed at least 5 rounds of competition. Once registered, teachers should review the Rules/Instructions for Math Madness in more detail by clicking "Math Madness" in the dropdown at the top/right of their account and then selecting the "About" tab on that page, or visit https://www.aretelabs.com/math_madness directly. Payment by check is politely requested although a credit card purchase can be arranged if there is no alternative. Payment in advance is NOT required so teachers need not be concerned about lengthy school/district payment processes. In the pricing area below, a player is defined as an individual student who competes at least once during the event. Prices listed are for the entire team to play for the entire season (note that separate prices apply for spring 2021 - see second alert above). A team should consist only of students from the same school (exceptions to this may be made upon request, limitations apply), but it may include students from multiple grade levels corresponding to the grade levels of the event. Price accommodation is available upon request and as needed. Please do not hesitate to send an email to timothy@aretelabs.com with any questions or call 312-952-0436. Make sure to click the "Video Tutorial" button at the top/right of this page to review registration steps!

Thank you and welcome to Math Madness! . . .