For the purposes of its Top Small School award at the High School National Championship Tournament, NAQT defines a small school to be a public high school with fewer than 500 students in grades 10-12 and a non-selective admission policy. NAQT takes a very strict view of what constitutes a "selective admission policy" and has, through November 1, 2007, never accepted any school as a small school that had any kind of admission policy, even if that policy is (claimed to be) mostly or wholly unrelated to academic performance.

The top small school at any event that uses NAQT questions automatically qualifies for that year's national championship. If multiple schools tie for this honor and the host does not explicitly break the tie in the results sent to NAQT, NAQT will determine the qualifying school by statistical measures at its discretion.

Schools hosting events (even official events, including state championships) with NAQT questions are not required to run separate divisions for small schools. If they do run divisions based on school size, they are not required to use NAQT's definition for one of the divisions.

NAQT acknowledges that the notion of what constitutes a "small school" varies nationally and, while it has a single, national definition that is used at its HSNCT, it wants to allow organizers the chance to set standards that are locally appropriate. This does mean, however, than a school that plays as a small school in (for example) Virginia, may not be eligible to win the Top Small School award at the national championship.