American Computer Science League - ACSL

The American Computer Science League (ACSL) is a non-profit organization devoted to computer science education at the secondary school level.

ACSL administers computer science contests for junior and senior high school students, publishes a newsletter containing the results of each contest and items of interest, and awards prizes (computers, books, and trophies) to outstanding students and schools at local and regional levels. In 1994-95, our 16th year of operation, nearly 300 schools in the United States and Canada participated.

ACSL will provide a unique and exciting educational opportunity for computer enthusiasts at school. Contest problems motivate students to study computer topics not covered in their school's curriculum and to pursue classroom topics in depth. At many schools, the League is the focal point both for extracurricular clubs and for entire courses.

Contests are held at each participating school thereby eliminating the need for travel, and an unlimited number of students from all grade levels may compete at each school. A school's score is the sum of the scores of its three or five highest-scoring students. In each competition, students are given short theoretical and applied questions, and then a practical problem to solve within the following three days, testing it on our data using their school's computer facilities. After the contest is administered by the faculty advisor, each school's results are returned to ACSL for tabulation. At the end of the year, an Invitational Team All-Star Contest is held at a common site.

The Classroom Division consists of only pencil and paper questions; there are no programming problems. This division is open to all students from all grades not competing in any other division; prizes are awarded on a grade-by-grade basis.

The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) has placed ACSL on the National Advisory List of Contests and Activities. However, the Team All-Star Contest, sponsored by ACSL's parent organization, is not because it requires travel to a common site and has a separate registration fee.

Since much of the contest material is new to most faculty advisors, complete study materials, sample problems, and annotated solutions to contest problems are provided upon registration.

Please refer to the ACSL flier for membership fees and the availability of previous years' contest materials. For still more information contact Marc Brown (mhb@pa.dec.com).


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