Student Judge Assignments by Category

Student Judge Assignments is an experimental feature that allows students to be assigned to specific judges on a per-category basis rather than per-heat. This approach prioritizes judge variety across categories while ensuring consistent scoring within each category.

Overview

In traditional scoring, each heat is scored independently by all judges. With category-based assignments:

• Students are assigned to one judge per category - Each student receives a single consolidated score for all heats within a category
• Judge variety is maximized - The system prioritizes assigning different judges across categories, so students experience multiple judging perspectives throughout the event
• Student partnerships preserved - Students dancing together in a category are always assigned to the same judge for that category
• Simplified scoring for judges - Judges score each student once per category instead of once per heat

This feature is particularly useful for:

• Events with multiple judges (3+ recommended)
• Students competing in multiple categories
• Events wanting to maximize judge variety while maintaining scoring consistency

Enabling Category Scoring

Step 1: Enable Event-Level Feature

Navigate to Settings → Event Options and check:

• ✓ Enable student judge assignments by category?

This enables the feature for your event but doesn’t activate it for any categories yet.

Step 2: Configure Per-Category

For each category where you want to use category scoring:

1. Navigate to Dances from your event’s main page
2. Click on a category name (e.g., “Smooth”, “Rhythm”, “Standard”)
3. Check ✓ Use category scoring (one score per student per category)?
4. Click Update Category

Categories default to using category scoring when the event-level feature is enabled. You can selectively disable it for specific categories by unchecking the option.

Mixed Configuration

You can use category scoring for some categories and traditional per-heat scoring for others in the same event:

• Solo category might use per-heat scoring (each solo scored individually)
• Closed categories might use category scoring (one score per student per category)
• Open categories might use traditional scoring (all judges score each heat)

The system automatically uses the appropriate scoring method based on the category configuration.

Scoring Interface

For judges, the scoring interface adapts based on the heat composition:

1. Navigate heats normally using the heat list or navigation buttons
2. View heat details showing all couples competing
3. Enter scores using your preferred method (radio buttons, cards, rankings)

Amateur Couple Support:

When both the lead and follow are students (amateur couple), the heat appears twice in the scoring interface - once for each student:

• First row/card: Shows the lead student being evaluated, with follow as partner
• Second row/card: Shows the follow student being evaluated, with lead as partner
• Each student scored independently: The lead and follow receive separate category scores
• Column headers adapt: When column order is set to show Student/Partner, the student being evaluated always appears in the “Student” column

Example:

Heat 40 - Amateur Couple (both students):

  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │ Student        Partner      Category    │
  ├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ Alice Student  Bob Student  Adult - NC  │ ← Alice being scored
  │ Bob Student    Alice Student Adult - NC │ ← Bob being scored
  └─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Assignment Algorithm Details

The assignment algorithm optimizes for two goals in order:

1. Judge variety across categories (primary goal)
   • Students should see different judges in different categories when possible
   • Uses 1000× penalty multiplier for judge repeats
   • Example: With 4 categories and 3 judges, achieved 81.1% judge variety (students saw 2-3 different judges)
2. Balanced judge workload (secondary goal)
   • Distributes students evenly across judges within each category
   • Minimizes coefficient of variation (CV) in judge assignments
   • Example: With 39 students and 3 judges, achieved 2.7% CV (near-perfect balance)

Partnership handling:

• Connected component analysis identifies student groups who dance together
• Entire partnership assigned to same judge within a category
• Amateur couples (both lead and follow are students) are each scored separately but assigned to the same judge within the category
• Small adjustments made after initial assignment to improve balance

Reports and Results

Viewing Scores

From Judge Pages:

• Judges see their assigned students listed by category
• Category scores appear once per student (not repeated for each heat)
• Scores display alongside student information

From Summary Page:

• Results show category scores for enabled categories
• Per-heat scores show for traditional categories
• Formatting automatically adapts based on score type

Assignment Report

After assigning judges, you’ll see statistics showing:

• Number of students assigned per judge in each category
• Distribution balance (coefficient of variation)
• Overall judge variety percentage across categories

Things to Be Aware Of

• Judge variety depends on configuration: With only 2 judges, students will see the same judges repeatedly. 3+ judges recommended for meaningful variety.

• Category score appears on all heats: When a judge views any heat for a student in a category-scored category, they see that student’s category score. Changing the score updates it for all heats.

• Partnerships must be consistent: If students dance together in some heats but not others within the same category, the system groups them together. This may result in larger assignment units than expected.

• Amateur couples appear twice: When both the lead and follow are students (amateur couple), the heat appears twice in the scoring interface - once for each student. Each student receives their own independent category score. This allows both students in an amateur couple to be evaluated separately while competing together.

• Offline scoring supported: The Offline Scoring feature works with category scoring - judges can score offline and scores sync when connectivity returns.

Related Topics

• Scoring - General scoring system documentation
• Settings - Event configuration and options
• Judge Role Guide - Complete judge instructions
• Offline Scoring - Scoring without internet connectivity

Status: Experimental - This feature has been validated with test scenarios but is awaiting real-world usage at actual events. Please report any issues or unexpected behavior.