United States Academic Decathlon

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The United States Academic Decathlon (USAD; often abbreviated to AD, Acadeca, Acadec, AcDec, or AcDc) is one of the premier academic competitions for high school students in the United States. USAD contests are held in 42 states. It consists of ten events, which include seven tests, two performance events and an essay. It was started by Dr. Robert Peterson in Orange County, California for local schools in 1968, but was expanded to a nation-wide competition in 1981.

Academic Decathlon teams consist of nine members, who are divided in three categories based on grade point average: Honors (3.75 – 4.0 GPA), Scholastic (3.00 – 3.74 GPA), and Varsity (0.00 – 2.99 GPA). Each team member competes in all ten events against other students in his/her division. Overall team scores are calculated using the top two individual scores from each division. Gold, silver, and bronze medals are awarded for each individual event as well as total scores. Individual and team winners are recognized. Teams advance through local, regional, state, and national levels of competition, but fewer teams compete at each level (only state champions compete nationally, for instance).

[edit] History

[edit] 1968 – 2000

The Academic Decathlon was formed in 1968 by Dr. Robert Peterson, superintendent of schools in Orange County, California.^[1] 103 students participated in the inaugural competition in December of 1968.^[2] From 1968 to 1979, only regional contests were held, but as early as 1969 there was a push to make the competition state-wide.^[3] In 1979 the competition was made to include the entire state of California^[4] and two years later, the United States Academic Decathlon Association was formed. In April 1982, the first United States Academic Decathlon national competition was held. Palo Alto, representing California, competed against schools from all around the country, including Reno High School from Nevada and Pleasure Ridge Park High School from Kentucky.^[5] Despite being established in 1981, USAD did not include most states until the 1983 – 1984 season.^[4][6][7]

The organization of the initial Academic Decathlon events was different from what today's standards. Art and Music were not individual subjects, but rather were merged into one test: "Fine Arts". It was not until 1998 that the two tests were separated. ^[8] Due to the splitting of the Fine Arts test, Super Quiz now had to replace one of the subjects each year. In 1998, the Super Quiz was, for the first and last time, Economics; 1999 and 2000 both featured Science-based Super Quizzes, and 2001 and 2002 both featured Social Science-based Super Quizzes. From 2003 to present, the Super Quiz has alternated between Science and Social Science.

In addition to the shuffling of subjects, USAD has changed the amount of personal research required by students. From the Academic Decathlon's inception until the 1998 – 1999 season, students performed all their own research. Unlike in the current competition format, the earliest writers did not have to base their questions on material USAD published. In 2000, USAD changed policies, requiring all test questions to come strictly from USAD supplied materials. This changed the way tests were written resulting in a large number of new records being set across the country.^[9][10] James E. Taylor High School produced a phenomenal score of 52,470 at nationals, the highest team score the country had yet seen. With the exception of the 2007 – 2008 season, more individual scores over 9,000 were recorded than any other year.^[11]

[edit] 2000 – 2001

The 2000 – 2001 season witnessed a large number of changes in USAD. Most notable was the resignation of the program's executive director, James Alvino, which followed a large amount of controversy surrounding a religious article Alvino had written and had included in that year's Super Quiz Resource.^[12]. In addition to the loss of the program's director, USAD saw some radical changes in the organization of the curriculum as USAD once again changed their testing policies. 50% of test questions were to come from USAD published materials and 50% were to come from other unspecified sources.^[13] Additionally, USAD changed the focuses of Economics and Math. For the previous 19 years Economics had focused on macro and microeconomics and Math tested a student's knowledge of algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. However, in 2001, Economics was changed to have a focus on business organizations and profiles in individual enterprise, while Math revolved around "Gateways to Logical Thinking," which spotlighted logic and set theory, numbers, combinatorics and probability, and applications. ^[14] These three large changes on top of a particularly difficult Music curriculum led to a plummet in scores. The winner that year, El Camino Real High School, scored 5,923 points less than the score put up by James E. Taylor the previous year. It is the second lowest score ever recorded by a winner of the National competition. The 2000 – 2001 season was also significant in that it was the first year that allowed states to send two schools to the national competition: the large school champion and the small school champion. Due to logistical problems, this practice was discontinued after the 2002 season. Instead, a small school e-Nationals was introduced in 2005 which then led to the formation of a medium school e-Nationals two years later.

[edit] 2002 – Present

The 2001 – 2002 season brought stability for the Academic Decathlon. That year the current system for organizing the curriculum was instituted: guides were published for each objective event with 75% of the test questions coming from these guides and 25% being independent research. This is also the year that saw the Super Quiz begin its tradition of alternating between Social Science and Science. Since 2002, the only significant change the program has seen is increasing the number of math questions from 25 to 35 in 2005^[15] and the change in calculator policy in 2007.^[16]

[edit] Team makeup and eligibility

The USAD is unique in terms of the breadth of knowledge and diversity of teams that it requires. Teams must have students that fall into three categories specified by GPA. The Honors category is composed of students with GPAs between 3.75 and 4.0. The next category, the Scholastic category, is made of students with GPAs between 3.0 and 3.74. The final group, the Varsity category, is made of students whose GPA range from 0.00 to 2.99. USAD uses a modified GPA scale in which "performance-based" classes such as music, art or physical education are omitted from the GPA calculation. Additionally, a grade counts for face value regardless of whether or not it is advanced placement, honors, regular or remedial classification. ^[17]

A team typically consists of 9 competitors: three honors, three scholastic and three varsity. However, since only the top two scores in each category are counted in calculation of the team total score, a team can compete with as few as six students.

Students may compete in a higher category than the one they would be assigned to, but generally it is to the students' advantage to compete in the lowest category they can, because the scores in Varsity are typically lower than those in Scholastic, and those in Scholastic are typically lower than those in Honors. For instance, a student with a GPA of 2.8 would normally compete in the Varsity category, but could compete in Scholastic or Honors if his team placed him there. Conversely, an Honors student would not be able to compete in the Varsity category.^[17]

[edit] Events

As in an athletic decathlon, USAD has ten events. They are art, economics, essay, interview, language & literature, mathematics, music, science, social science, and speech.^[18] Each year, a different subject is chosen for Super Quiz, which uses a slightly different format than the other events (see Super Quiz). The topics and theme of the competition are released in March of every year,^[19] which gives students time to prepare for the competition season.

The events are split up into two groups: the seven objective written tests (Art, Economics, Language and Literature, Math, Music, Science and Social Science) and the three subjective events (Essay, Interview and Speech). They are designated as such because the former seven are multiple choice tests, whereas the latter three are graded by judges. Students are given half an hour to answer each multiple choice exam. These exams consist of 50 questions, with the exception of Math and Super Quiz that have 35 and 40 questions respectively.

[edit] Objective events

Section from the Book of the Dead of Nany from the 2004 – 05 curriculum. Students were to memorize such esoteric facts as knowing that the whole scroll is 17 feet long, Nany was a ritual singer for Amen-Ra and that her coffin was a hollow wooden sculpture of Osiris.^[20]

In general, the objective events follow a set organizational outline from year to year. Language and Literature focuses on a main novel or a set of plays in addition to multiple short selections which tend to be poems or excerpts from short stories. The Art and Music competitions have compiled selections of pieces that students must familiarize themselves with. Economics is largely static every year with 85% of the subject focusing on macroeconomics and microeconomics.^[21] The remaining 15% of the event relates to that year's curriculum. For example, in the 2005 theme "Exploring the Ancient World", this 15% dealt with the economics of ancient Egypt and Rome. The Math curriculum has remained constant since 2002 dealing with general math, geometry, trigonometry, and differential calculus. Science and Social Science are completely variable from year to year and depend on that year's theme.

[edit] Subjective events

The subjective events each have a separate set of rules, and allow the students far more creativity than the objective subjects. In the Speech event, Decathletes deliver a prepared speech with a duration of 3.5–4 minutes and give a 1.5–2 minute impromptu speech. One minute is made available to prepare for this impromptu speech, which must be based on one of three random topics. Examples include: "Why is light, light and dark, dark?", "It has been said about our modern times that, 'Invention is the mother of necessity.' Please discuss.", and "Math has been described as the universal language. Discuss". In the Interview event, the students are asked a wide variety of questions in a formal environment. Such questions range from, "Who is your role model?" to, "How would you alert someone that their zipper is down?". In order to discourage favoritism, the interviewers are not allowed to ask what school the Decathlete attends. In the Essay event, students are given 50 minutes to write a well-organized essay about one of three or more prompts derived from the year's curriculum. Usually, those topics are obtained from the Language and Literature and Super Quiz material, although topics can be obtained from other events as well.

[edit] Themes

Each year, the events are tied together by a central theme. For example, the 2008–2009 theme will focus on Latin America, with an emphasis on Mexico. Specific topics are as follows:

• Language and Literature is based on the novel Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, as well as six shorter selections.
• Art will focus on the art of Mexico with such artists as Miguel Cabrera and Diego Riviera.
• Music covers the music of Latin America featuring 14 tracks including works by Manuel de Zumaya and Silvestre Revueltas.
• Social Science will focus on the history of Mexico.
• Economics will focus on the economy of Mexico.
• The Super Quiz will cover an introduction to evolutionary biology, the historical development of the evolutionary theory, natural selection, speciation, mutation, gene flow, genetic drift, and evolutionary developmental biology. There will also be information on Darwin's voyages, as well as his work in Latin America to tie in to the theme.^[19]

[edit] Super Quiz

The Super Quiz is one highlighted event out of the subjects, a special topic closely tied to the year's theme. The subject of choice (with the exception of 1998 when it was Economics) alternates between Science and Social Science. The Super Quiz consists of a 40 question multiple choice test as well as a quizbowl type competition, generally referred to as the Super Quiz Relay, where students have seven seconds to answer a question. The number of oral Super Quiz questions tends to vary by state, but ultimately account for 40% of the overall Super Quiz score with the exception of Nebraska where the relay counts for 100% of the Super Quiz score.

The Super Quiz relay is unique in that it is the only event viewable to the general public. The relay starts with the varsity students answering their questions first. The scholastic division follows with the honors students going last. Each group of students is given 5 or 10 questions, depending on the format decided by the State Coordinator.^[22] These questions are read aloud to the audience and are printed or projected for the competitors. The students face away from the audience during the relay to discourage audience members from cheating. After the questions and answers are read, the students are allowed seven seconds in which they have to select the correct answer. Their answer is corrected on the spot by a judge, and their score is immediately displayed to the audience. This portion of Academic Decathlon has long been regarded as the most 'fun,' since parents and friends are welcome to watch as schools cheer for their competitors.

[edit] Topics, past and present

Visualization of the various routes through a portion of the Internet. In 2002, the Super Quiz topic was the internet.

[edit] Study materials

USAD publishes study materials for all the objective events (no material is introduced regarding Essay, Interview or Speech), with the sale of the materials supporting the program. USAD has gone from publishing no materials, to publishing materials for all the subjects, to currently having a part of the questions drawn from independent research (IRTs) with the rest coming from the USAD materials. Currently, USAD publishes two types of material, the Resource Guides, and the Basic Guides.

Resource Guides contain information pertinent to a year's topic and constitute a large portion of that subject's testable material. As an example, from the year 2003, the Music Resource Guide focused on the development of Romantic music, its characteristics and the influence of the Classical era on the Romantic era. A large part of the guide focused on information about that year's composers: Beethoven, Berlioz, Rossini, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Verdi, Mussorgsky, Wagner, Bizet, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Mahler and Strauss. Similarly, the Art Resource Guide from that year revolved around Romantic art in the European tradition and therefore focused on the lives and works by relevant artists such as Joseph Mallord William Turner, Claude Monet, Albert Bierstadt,and Camille Pissarro. USAD offers Resource Guides in Art, Economics, Language and Literature, Music, Social Science / Science, and Super Quiz, but not Math.

Basic Guides are issued for the independent research topics that, unlike the Resource Guides, remain the same from year to year. The Art Basic Guide focuses on art fundamentals, looking at the elements of art, principles of composition and different 2-d and 3-d processes and techniques. Additionally, a brief introduction to art history is included that focuses largely on Western civilization. The Economics Basic Guide reviews fundamental economic concepts in addition to the basics of macro and microeconomics. The Language and Literature Basic Guide provides students with a basic grounding in the analysis of literature, introducing a slew of key terms such as synecdoche, metonymy, assonance, and aphorism. The Math Basic Guide offers a general overview of major topics in high school math, including algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, and statistics. The Music Basic Guide starts off introducing the student to topics in music theory such as harmonics, rhythm, tempo and the circle of fifths. It also includes information on a wide variety of instruments and a brief history of Western style music.

[edit] Cheating and biases

There have been some cases of cheating in the history of the decathlon, the most notable being the 1995 Illinois state finals, in which Steinmetz High School was able to secure copies of the test in advance and defeat perennial powerhouse Whitney Young Magnet High School^[23]. This was dramatized in the movie Cheaters. If suspected of cheating, the team will have to take a retest of a similar difficulty, or face disqualification.

Often rival schools will claim cheating or unfair treatment after losing. One such incident involved ex-Catholic Memorial HS coach John Burke who "[conveyed] false information to the public, to Wisconsin Academic Decathlon and National Academic Decathlon officials". Additionally, he repeatedly attacked another school's pupil through allegations of cheating and ineligibility. ^[24] This particular incident resulted from Catholic Memorial losing to rival Waukesha West High School at the Wisconsin state level competition in 2002.

Since part of the Super Quiz event takes place on a stage in front of an audience and other teammates, there have been instances of cheating occurring at all levels. In order to prevent this, USAD officials have asked that competition venues either have students sit with their back to the crowd or position lighting in such a way that students cannot see the crowd.

[edit] Scoring and winning

Gold medal earned at the Nebraska State competition.

Each event is worth 1,000 points, with a theoretical maximum individual score of 10,000. For the 50 question tests, each question is worth 20 points each. The Interview and Speech events are graded by a team of judges (usually three, although it is not uncommon for competitions to have two judges), whose scores are averaged to give a maximum of 1000 points per event. The Essay is graded with a rubric, and it is read by two different judges, whose scores are then averaged. If the difference between the judges' scores differs by 200 points or more, then a third reader is asked to grade the student's essay. The two closest scores of the three are averaged to give the student's score.^[25] The Mathematics event contained 25 questions, but beginning with the 2005 National competition, the number of questions was increased to 35.^[15] The Super Quiz written test contains 40 questions, each worth 15 points. The oral Super Quiz contains either 5 or 10 questions (depending on the state director), each worth 80 or 40 points respectively.

The composite team score is comprised of the overall scores of the top two performers in each grade category. Since the theoretical maximum individual score is 10,000, the maximum team score is 60,000 (6 scorers at 10,000 each). However, due to the subjective natures of the speech, interview and essay events (which are scored by human, and therefore fallible, judges), neither the individual maximum nor the team maximum score is likely. Despite this, a small percentage of students have managed to achieve scores of over 9000 points. The current highest individual score by a student is 9,321.2, put up by Alli Blonski from Waukesha West, Wisconsin at the 2008 national competition.^[26] In more prolific states, a competitive individual score typically ranges between 7,500 and 8,500, and state winning team scores are usually around 45,000 to 50,000 (7,500 to 8,000 for each member on average). National champion scores typically range between 48,000 and 53,000. The current highest team score was achieved by the 2008 Moorpark team at the national competition. They scored 53,119.4, an average of 8853.2 points per individual.

States with large numbers of schools competing may have district and regional competitions, with winners advancing to the state finals competition. State winners advance to the national finals, which are hosted in different states from year to year.

Perfect scores of 1,000 in events are recorded regularly, and in some cases there have been 30+ way ties at the national competition because of perfect and near perfect scores. This phenomenon was common in the math event before 2005, and was the main reason for the increase in the number of math questions.^[15]

Grading programs are available both from the USAD company and independent programmers to facilitate scoring and awarding of medals.

[edit] Participation

There are four official levels of competition: local/scrimmage, regional, state, and national (Rounds 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively). With the exception of round 1, only top finishers advance to the next level. Regional competitions only exist in states with relatively large numbers of teams competing, and as such some states — e.g. Montana^[27], Missouri^[28], Oregon^[29] - do not require a regional competition. Additionally, many large states have local scrimmages using the Round 1 tests, but these are largely for practice and do not determine whether a team can compete at the regional level which uses Round 2 tests. In the 2006 – 2007 season, 39 states sent teams to the national finals. South Dakota have joined in for the 2007–2008 season, as well as Oregon, who joins for the first time since 2003–2004, bringing the total number of participating states to 42.^[30]

[edit] Nationals winners

The 2009 event is planned to be held April 22–25, 2009 in Memphis, Tennessee. Previous winners of the competition are listed in the table below:

[edit] Medium School E-Nationals

The Medium School E-Nationals competition began in 2008, and follows the same guidelines and patterns of competition as the Small School E-Nationals. The Medium School competition is for schools with more than 650 but no more than 1300 students.^[31]

[edit] Small School E-Nationals

The small school e-nationals competition began in 2006 for schools with 650 or fewer students. It consists of 8 events: Art, Economics, Essay, Language and Literature, Math, Music, Science/Social Science, and Super Quiz. The competition is done online to make execution and organization of the event easier. The absence of Speech and Interview from the competition logically follow this distance-testing scenario.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• USAD - The official website of United States Academic Decathlon