Questions, Curriculum to Be Overhauled, Board Decides

Bowing to criticism from coaches across the country, the board of directors of the U.S. Academic Decathlon announced Saturday its decision to overhaul the competition’s curriculum, publish fewer study guides and lower the cost of practice materials for next year’s contest.

During a meeting at a San Antonio hotel Friday, the board also pledged to incorporate more critical thinking questions into the exams and to improve the quality of the tests.

“Last year, we didn’t quite deliver the mission we set out to deliver,” said Frank Wurtzel, president-elect of the board. “We needed to refocus the program on independent research.”

Nationwide, coaches had protested that curriculum guides published by the organization were filled with errors, cost too much and encouraged rote memorization rather than higher-order thinking.

Coaches launched a letter campaign, sending signed petitions to the national organization.

As a result, the national organizers assembled a task force in March to review the criticisms and concerns. The task force, which included coaches, state directors and Academic Decathlon officials, sent its recommendations to the board.

Some coaches, however, expressed support for the guides, saying schools with fewer resources were at a disadvantage without them. They also argued that it’s easier to recruit student team members with the guides.

While about 400 students from throughout the country took tests Friday as part of the national finals of the contest, board members reviewed the task force report and voted unanimously to make curriculum changes, according to Wurtzel. On Saturday, board members met with state directors and released their decisions.

U.S. Academic Decathlon will publish an outline for the entire program by May 15. They will also create art slides, music CD-ROMs and complete guides for four subjects: music, literature, science and Super Quiz.

The organization will eliminate the guides for math, economics or art. For those subjects, detailed outlines will be available Aug. 1.

For the four topics that have guides, half of the test questions will be drawn from those guides and half will be developed from other sources. The price of the curriculum materials will be reduced by 25%.

National Executive Director James Alvino also said the organization plans to improve the quality of the guides, and to increase the number of outside experts to proofread the tests.

In this year’s contest, the U.S. Academic Decathlon threw out two questions: one in math and one in the Super Quiz.

Judy Combs, director of the California Academic Decathlon, called the decision a “step in the right direction.” She said she would continue to work closely with county directors and coaches on the implementation of the changes.

“Looking at the entire state of California, it is a good compromise,” said Combs, who served on the task force. “I am delighted that the compromise has been met, but I am realistic enough to know it’s not going to satisfy everyone.”

Larry Jones, who quit coaching Moorpark High School’s team after its victory at the national finals last year, is one of the coaches unsatisfied by the board’s decision.

“It’s not a compromise,” Jones said. “They still make their money and they disregarded the input of what I think are valuable educators.

“When the students had to do the outside research, that was a full-time job,” he said. “When the students got the guides and had to memorize all the material, that was a full-time job. This is twice as much work for students.”

The board and the task force will both review the changes at the end of the year, officials said. Wurtzel said his goal is to expand and improve the program, and he hopes the changes will do just that.

“This strikes a greater balance,” he said. “It’s a good satisfactory resolution that meets the concerns of a lot of different people who are committed to the program.”