Victory Not Just Academic

It was the typical Sturm und Drang of the giant Los Angeles Unified School District. Five months ago, the district was about to cancel its annual banquet honoring local high school Academic Decathlon teams because a corporate sponsor backed out and a fundraising drive netted only 35 bucks. A San Fernando Valley businessman stepped up with $20,000 and the banquet went on ... as did the team that won first place that night.

In fact, the district champion, El Camino Real High School, went on to win the state decathlon title in March, then the national championship in Boise, Idaho, last week. It’s the third national win by the Woodland Hills high school. Districtwide test scores, though rising, keep the LAUSD in the nation’s academic cellar, but its decathlon teams have won seven national titles. Three went to El Camino and two each to Marshall and Taft. So what are these schools doing that the district’s other campuses ought to know?

The reality is that decathlon success requires rare sacrifice and commitment from students and teachers -- a willingness to spend every evening and weekend studying for months on end. Even the losing schools offer inspiring tales of dedication -- the decathlon coach at Granada Hills Charter who left her team for one night to give birth and returned with newborn in tow the next day; the North Hollywood High students who spent winter break holed up studying in a rented house in Twentynine Palms.

District officials have been trying for years to spread enthusiasm for the decathlon. Each year, a few more campuses -- Los Angeles, Belmont, Garfield, Reseda, Venice -- make it further into the decathlon competition. What the contest teaches sounds like a principal’s wish list: collaboration among students and faculty, clear academic standards, a culture that rewards excellence.

The decathlon demonstrates that a student body will invest in academics. More than 70 kids tried out for El Camino’s team after the school won its second national title in 2001. Wednesday, thousands will cheer them at a pep rally. “Something like this energizes a whole campus,” said David Tokofsky, the Los Angeles school board member who coached Marshall High to a national title as a history teacher in 1987.

Even underachievers have something to offer. Decathlon rules require that each team include three C-average students. Last year, a C student from Wisconsin was the top scorer in the national finals. Clearly, something in the process turns on students who are bright but unmotivated.

“In decathlon, the top kid can’t afford to push away the bottom,” says Tokofsky. “They need each other, so there’s a collegiality that develops.... What they accomplish can serve as a model.”

Given the LAUSD’s history, that may be a dream, but it’s one worth following.