1. Special Olympics Census Overview of 2017 updates
October 2017

2. Age range for youth unified athletes and partners, youth leaders and youth volunteers expanded to include 8-25 year olds
Youth Unified Athletes and Partners are Unified Sports athletes and partners aged who are involved in any model of Unified Sports
A Youth Leader is an individual with or without an intellectual disability age who is actively involved in a leadership role
A Youth Volunteer is an individual with or without an intellectual disability age who volunteered his/her time to support Special Olympics Program in any capacity
2016 Census
Youth Unified Athletes and Partners are Unified Sports athletes and partners age 8-25 who are involved in any model of Unified Sports
A Youth Leader is an individual with or without an intellectual disability age 8-25 who is actively involved in a leadership role
A Youth Volunteer is an individual with or without an intellectual disability age 8-25 who volunteered his/her time to support Special Olympics Program in any capacity
2017 Census

3. Rationale
Expanding the age range of youth unified athletes and partners, youth volunteers and youth leaders to include 8-25 years old, will send a strong message of inclusion as we will be highlighting and accounting for a strategically important elementary and middle-school unified sports participants and leaders (8-12 years old):
Available data demonstrates a high existing number of elementary and middle school unified sports participants (8-12 years old population)
Data reveals that elementary school level students are increasingly taking on multiple leadership roles
This presents an opportunity to message young people engagement in our movement more accurately and strategically

4. Pros and Cons of extending youth age range to 8-25
Supports our strategy for growing Unified Schools and unified sports participation in the age range (8-25)
This will allow to account for a large number of elementary and middle school unified sports participants and leaders
This directly supports our philosophy of inclusion and highlights widespread examples of leadership among children
8-12 is a strategically important to capture transition age in Unified programming
Pros
2017 data for this metric will not be comparable to previous years
Of global definitions of “youth” our definition will be at the lower end
Semantics: more accurate to call children and youth
Cons

5. NEW METRIC: Total Number of Local Clubs/ Programs (excluding Unified Schools)
A Local Club / Program is an organized local unit / branch conducting Special Olympics activities in a community
Definition
Report the total number of Local Clubs/Programs within a Special Olympics Accredited Program operating at the grassroots level.
Guidance

6. NEW METRIC: Number of Local Clubs / Programs conducting Unified Sports (excluding Unified Schools)
A Local Club / Program conducting Unified Sports is an organized local unit / branch offering Special Olympics activities in a community AND
conducting Unified Sports at least 2 times within a calendar year
Definition
Report the total number of Local Clubs / Programs within a Special Olympics Accredited Program operating at the grassroots level AND conducting Unified Sports in a non-school setting
Important instructions:
Do not include Unified Schools (see definition of Unified Schools)
Include Local Clubs / Programs that conduct any model of Unified Sports (Player Development, Competitive, Recreation)
Guidance

7. NEW METRIC: Number of Unified Champion Schools
A Unified Champion School is a school or university that promotes inclusion by implementing activities in each of three components within a calendar year:
1) Unified Sports (competitive, player-development, or recreation models) AND
2) Inclusive Youth Leadership AND
3) Whole School Engagement
Definition
Report the total number of Unified Champion Schools.
Important instructions:
Inclusive Youth Leadership: students with and without ID work together to lead and plan advocacy, awareness, and other Special Olympics related inclusive activities
Whole School Engagement: awareness/education activity that promotes inclusion and reaches majority of school’s students (example: R-Word Campaign)
Types of schools include: pre-school through university
If a general education school forms a partnership with a special education school, (students of both schools must be involved) count these as two separate Unified Champion Schools.
Guidance

8. Unified School definition includes requirement of 2 Unified Sports opportunities per year
A Unified School is a pre-school, primary school, secondary school, college or University offering Unified Sports opportunities to its participants.
2016 Census
A Unified School is a school or university that conducts Unified Sports opportunities to its students at least 2 times within the calendar year.
2017 Census

9. Clarified instructions for counting number of competitions (competition = sport event)
Total Number of Competition Opportunities
Important instructions:
1. Record multi-day competition as one competition opportunity
2. Count each league match as a separate competition opportunity
3. Include Unified Competition opportunities in the total count of competition opportunities
2016 Census
Total Number of Competitions (Traditional and Unified)
1. In a multi-sport competition (single/multiple day)– each sport offered should be counted as one competition.
2. If  a sport (e.g. Football) is offered in Traditional and Unified, count as 2 competitions
3. Count only the Sport, not the number of events within each sport
4. Count each league match as a separate competition
5. Include Unified Competitions in the total count of competitions
2017 Census

10. Clarified instructions for counting number of Unified competitions (Unified competition = sport event)
Total Number of Unified Competition Opportunities
Important instructions:
Include all forms of Unified Competitions conducted within the Unified Sports Competitive and Player Development models only.
Do not include opportunities conducted under the Unified Sports Recreation model
Count each league match as a separate competition opportunity
This metric is a subset of the “Total Number of Competition Opportunities” and cannot exceed it
2016 Census
Number of Unified Competitions
In a multi-sport Unified competition (single/multiple day)– each sport offered should be counted as one competition.
Count only the Unified Sports, not the number of events within each sport
Count each Unified league match as a separate competition
Number of Unified Competitions is a subset of Total Number of Competitions and cannot exceed it.
2017 Census

11. 2016 Census 2017 Census (proposed)
Renamed the metric that captures staff with ID in part-time or full-time unpaid roles
2016 Census
Number of unpaid Staff with Intellectual Disabilities
2017 Census (proposed)
Number of Athlete Leaders in Volunteer Staff roles at National/State level

12. Expanded list of examples of youth leadership roles
2016 Census
A Youth Leader is an individual with or without an intellectual disability age 8-25 who is actively involved in a leadership role during the calendar year. Examples of youth leadership roles include:
Representatives of youth advisory councils and committees
Local Program Committee members
Games and training organizers
Event or fundraising organizers
Sport Officials
Grant project leaders
Board members
Coaches / assistant coaches
Health and Fitness messengers
2017 Census
A Youth Leader is an individual with or without an intellectual disability age who is actively involved in a leadership role during the calendar year.
Examples of youth leadership roles include:
Representatives of youth advisory councils and committees
Board members

13. Metrics 2017 Added Instructions
Additional clarifying instructions added to minimize instances of double-counting across categories
Athletes who trained but did not compete
Young Athletes
Total Number of Coaches
(Certified and Uncertified)
Metrics
If an individual athlete trains and competes in one sport (e.g. tennis), and just trains but does not compete in another (e.g. swimming), report that athlete in both sports but only once in the M1 Individual Total
Young Athletes (2-7) category is the only category where Individual Total number must be equal to the Total Participation.
If an athlete 6-7 years of age participates in Young Athletes and starts training in a Sport(s) (e.g. bocce), report him / her in the 6-7 column under bocce and count this person in the 6-7 Individual Total only
If you report any athletes in a particular sport (e.g. volleyball) make sure to report coaches for this sport.
2017 Added Instructions

14. Revised labels: online categories updated with more self-explanatory labels
Totals
Total Number of Coaches
Total Number of Competition Opportunities
2-7
2016 Census
Athletes and Coaches
Total Number of Coaches (Certified and Uncertified)
Total Number of Competitions (Traditional and Unified)
Young Athletes (2-7)
2017 Census