All affiliated fairs throughout the State of California have already been informed about changes in the State Science Fair affecting their participation. The text of the letter announcing this policy is as follows:
Monday, September 7, 1998
On behalf of the California State Science Fair (CSSF) I want to thank you for your continued support of the State Science Fair each year. Without the cooperation of the associated Regional Fairs and specifically without the assistance of you, the Regional Fair Coordinators, there could not be a State Science Fair. Your input is important to us. If you have any questions or issues you wish to discuss, please contact me at (310) 336-5713 or by e-mail at drruth@ix.netcom.com. At this time I would like to discuss with you two important issues decided by the CSSF committee that will impact your Fair's participation in the 1999 State Science Fair.First, as you are probably well aware, the CSSF committee decided to freeze the size of the 1998 State Science Fair at the level of 850 projects. This was done to maintain the quality standards that we have set for the State Science Fair. We intend to continue this practice for the 1999 Fair.
Under this scheme, the number of projects (not numbers of students) allocated to the CSSF from each affiliated fair will be determined based on the following three criteria: size of the population represented by the affiliated fair, number of projects from the affiliated fair in a five-year average of previous State Science Fairs, and number of winning projects from the affiliated fair in a five-year average of previous State Science Fairs. This is basically the scheme that was outlined at the 1997 Coordinators Conference. More information on the allocation scheme can be found at the CSSF Web page at: http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/.
The allocated number of projects for your fair for the 1999 State Fair is [insert field]. This should be compared with the [insert field] projects that were allocated to your fair in 1998.
The second issue I wish to discuss with you is the admission of 6th graders to the CSSF. In the past the State Science Fair has only accepted 7th and 8th graders as being eligible to participate. In recognition of the growing number of middle schools, for the 1999 Fair we will allow the participation of 6th grade students in the Junior Division of the State Fair. This means that these students will be judged with the 7th and 8th graders. As usual, it is the responsibility of the Regional Fairs to select which eligible students from their fairs will participate in the State Fair. The admission of 6th grade students will not impact the number of projects that can participate from each Regional Fair.
We trust that you and your students will agree that this as a positive approach to equity throughout the state and an overall improvement it in quality of the California State Science Fair.
Yours truly,
Edward Ruth
Chair, 1999 California State Science Fair
The complete set of changes for the 1999 Fair which will impact any participants are given here.