PIAA District 11 is pleased to announce the adoption of a new power rating system to be used beginning immediately for fall sports in 2012, and progressing through the 2012-13 athletic seasons.

The power rating system and its policies and timelines were adopted on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012 during the District 11 committee meeting.

Modeled after the system that PIAA District 3 uses to determine its playoff participants, the system places increased emphasis on strength of schedule and decreased emphasis on classification, or size of school. This, in turn, helps to promote local rivalries, while reducing transportation costs and making it easier for fans to attend closer games. An added benefit, in comparison to the former system, is that teams are not penalized for playing and losing to quality competition or larger schools. Losses can carry a rating system benefit, which allows teams to seek out great, local competition regardless of result.

A great feature for the fans, media, and coaches is the almost constant updating of District 11 rankings in a particular sport, located on the District 11 Web site. As coaches or athletic directors update results, point values change, which gives all those involved immediate knowledge of where they stand in the rankings. This begins on Day 1. Access these standings from the drop-down menu on the District 11 website main page. While the math and formula to the system is difficult to manage using pen and paper, District 11 has contracted with Gary "Gimp" Brownell to administer the web-based system we will use.

The system is based on a perfect score of 1.000. That number is actually unachievable, because an undefeated team cannot beat all undefeated teams all season. The higher the number to 1.000, the higher the ranking a team has. There are two components to the rating system, called Team's Weighted Winning Percentage (TWWP) and Opponent's Weighted Winning Percentage (OWWP). The TWWP numbers are derived based on classification and result for TWWP. The OWWP numbers are derived based on the total of your opponents' records. Technology allows us the ability to track these numbers much more easily.

The District 11 committee has also adopted a timeline where results are expected to be entered. An e-mail notification system will be used to inform coaches, athletic directors, principals, and District 11 sport chairs of deadlines missed in a progressive fashion. Ultimately, schools have up to 95 hours to report results before they face fines imposed by District 11. It is very important that coaches and athletic directors keep up with reporting scores because of the strength of schedule component. Every time a team you have played plays, your rating will change based on that result. There are also different formulas based on playing non-District 11 schools and non-PIAA schools.

District 11 looks forward to continuing to provide a level playing field for its member schools and provide more knowledge for our fans and media members.