How IHSA Enrollments and Classifications are Determined

In 1971, IHSA member schools voted to implement a two-class system for the IHSA boys tournament, based on school enrollments. Since then, multiple classes have been introduced in a number of sports and activities in an attempt to provide for more equitable competition. In keeping with this philosophy, a multiplier on the enrollments of non-boundaried schools was added to the formula in 2005.

This page addresses three important topics in understanding the classification of IHSA schools:

How is a school's enrollment determined?
How is a school placed into a particular class?
How many classes may a particular sport or activity be divided into?

Calculating a School's Enrollment

The placement of IHSA member schools into classes is a several-step process that starts with the school's official enrollment from the previous school year.

Step 1. Start with the official enrollment from September 30 of the previous school year.

To determine official enrollments and classifications, IHSA uses data from the Fall Housing Report submitted by each school to the Illinois State Board of Education. The Fall Housing Report is a breakdown of student attendance on September 30, and is usually made available to the IHSA and the public in April. Because official enrollment data is not available until well into the school term, IHSA must use figures from the previous year to determine classifications. For example, IHSA classifications for the 2006-07 school term are determined by the official school enrollments from September 30, 2005.

In situations where a school will gain students through annexation or consolidation or lose students because of a new school opening in the district, the IHSA uses an estimated enrollment for planning purposes and then uses the figure from September 30 of the current school year, as reported by the school directly to the IHSA.

Step 2. Apply variances.

If a school has included out-of-district special education students on its Fall Housing Report, it may petition for a variance to have those students removed from its IHSA enrollment.

A school may also petition for a variance if it anticipates an enrollment increase or decrease of more than 20%.

Step 3. Apply levelers.

Levelers have been used since the first-multiple class tournament in 1972. Levelers are intended to equalize the enrollments of high schools that are not four-year, coed instutitions.

a. Single-Gender Schools

The leveler of 2.0 is applied to single-gender schools to make them equal with coed schools having the same number of boys or girls (since athletic programs are gender-specific).

Example: 1,000 girls (starting enrollment) x 2 = 2,000 (leveled enrollment)

b. Three-Year High Schools

The leveler of 1.333 is applied to three-year high schools because the lack of freshmen players typically has little impact on a varsity program.

Example: 1,000 (starting enrollment) x 1.333 = 1,333 (leveled enrollment)

Step 4. Apply the multiplier.

The multiplier was adopted starting with the 2006-07 school term to help level the playing field between boundaried and non-boundaried high schools. The multiplier is applied to all non-boundaried schools.

A non-boundaried school is defined as “any private school, charter school, lab school, magnet school, residential school, and any public school in a multi-high school district that does not accept students from a fixed portion of the district.”

The final figure is called the adjusted enrollment and determines the classification in all sports and activities.

Determining a School's Classification

Once the adjusted enrollments of all members schools have been computed, schools are placed into classes according to the IHSA Classification Policy.

For 2007-08, the determination of a school's class is fairly simple. Depending on the number of classes used in each sport, the cutoffs are as follows:

2-class system	3-class system	4-class system
Class A: up to 724.35	Class 1A: up to 603.00	Class 1A: up to 350.00
Class AA: 724.36 and above	Class 2A: 603.01 to 1508.00	Class 2A: 350.01 to 724.35
	Class 3A: 1508.01 and above	Class 3A: 724.36 to 1658.00
		Class 4A: 1658.01 and above

Keep in mind that the adjusted enrollment used to determine classification includes the levelers and multipliers discussed above.

Alternate systems are used in music and competitive cheerleading:

IHSA Classification System - 2007-08 school term
COMPETITIVE CHEERLEADING ONLY
Adjusted enrollment	Class
1765.01 or more	Large Squad
660.01 to 1765.00	Medium Squad
up to 660.00	Small Squad

IHSA Classification System - 2007-08 school term
MUSIC ONLY
Adjusted enrollment	Class
1600.01 or more	Class AA
800.01 to 1600.00	Class A
350.01 to 800.00	Class B
190.01 to 350.00	Class C
up to 190.00	Class D

In football, classes can only be determined after the 256-team playoff field is set, and therefore can change significantly from year to year. Classes are announced on Football Pairings Night, which takes place on the last Saturday of the regular season after all the games have been completed. All the qualifying schools are sorted according to their football enrollments, with the smallest 32 schools placed in Class 1A, the next smallest 32 in Class 2A, and so on.

Click here for a more detailed discussion of how football classifications are determined.

Setting the Number of Classes

The number of classes in each sport and activity is determined by policy set by the IHSA Board of Directors. Except for the unique cases of football, music, and competitive cheerleading, the current policy is based on the number of schools that annually enter the IHSA state final series. The policy establishes a maximum number of classes that each sport or activity may conduct.

IHSA policy does not mandate that the maxiumum number of classes be used. The advisory committee for each sport or activity is free to recommend increasing or decreasing the number of classes, as long as the number remains within the bounds set by the policy. The Board of Directors has the final say on whether to change the number of classes.

For bracketed teams sports and activities (including baseball, basketball, Scholastic Bowl, soccer, softball, volleyball, and water polo), the limits are:

Bracketed team sports and activities
Number of schools entered	Number of classes allowed
600 or more	1, 2 or 4
300 to 599	1 or 2
less than 300	1

For other sports and activities, the limits are:

Other sports and activities
Number of schools entering individuals	Number of classes allowed
450 or more	1, 2, or 3
325 to 449	1 or 2
less than 325	1

Football, music, and competitive cheerleading are considered unique, and their classification systems are determined by the Terms & Conditions of the particular sport or activity. Like the Classification Policy, all Terms & Conditions must be approved by the Board of Directors.

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