Alaska Academic Decathlon Coaches' Handbook

Selecting The Final Team Members For The State Competition

Selecting the 9-12 students who will ultimately participate at the State Championship competition can be a difficult task. Selecting your final team is regulated by the following eligibility guidelines. After these guidelines are met it is entirely up to the coach to decide other criteria for selecting their final team.

Guidelines

GCI AAD is not an official interscholastic activity that is governed by ASAA or any other Department of Education agency. We do not require the same rules for eligibility in order to participate in the State Competition.  Your school or school district may require that your team meet the same activity guidelines as other activities within your school. Please check with your principal or superintendent for your school policy on interscholastic activity eligibility rules.

All full-time high school students throughout the State of Alaska are allowed to compete on a Decathlon team in their school or school district. Because Alaska has so many small and remote schools, Alaska has a special way of bringing some teams together. If your school is an ASAA regulated 1A, 2A, or 3A school or, in other words, if your school has 400 students or less as of October 1st of the previous year, then you may have a "combined team". A combined team is a team of students from different high schools within the same district. In the rural areas of Alaska, this is sometimes the only way to get a team together.

However, if your school is regulated as a 4A school, or has 401 students or more, then you may not have a combined team and all team members must be from one high school. This ruling allows for small rural schools to have a team and ensures that the larger schools do not form an *All Star* team with a large group of students to pull from.

We want to encourage as many students as possible to have the experience of attending the State competition. Currently, individual schools and school districts may send more than one team to State as long as they pay $550 per team of up to 12 members. This would include an alternate in Honors, Scholastic and Varsity divisions. Alternates are allowed to participate in all events, but cannot win medals. Their scores will not be counted for team awards. An alternate may not be substituted for a regular team member after the competition has begun. An additional or second team from individual high schools will be allowed to participate in all events, but will not be eligible to receive individual or team awards.

A competition team consists of nine full-time students from the ninth through twelfth grades. A full-time student is defined as a student who is enrolled in four or more class periods per day. Each team is made up of three Honor students, three Scholastic students, and three Varsity students as indicated by the following grade point average definition:

3.75 - 4.00 GPA:          Honors Division

3.00 - 3.74 GPA:          Scholastic Division

0.00 - 2.99 GPA:          Varsity Division

Contestants may compete in a higher division than their own grade point average division but not in a lower division. Each team member competes in all ten events of the Decathlon and is eligible for individual medals in all ten events. Only six scores count for the final team standing in the competition, the top two Honor scores, the top two Scholastic scores, and the top two Varsity scores. Therefore, schools may enter with fewer than nine members and still be eligible for team awards as long as there are at least two Honor, two Scholastic, and two Varsity members.

USAD requires that the nine students who attend the National finals must be the same nine students who participated in and won the State competition. If any of the nine students are unable to attend the National finals, then the team may compete in the National finals with fewer than nine students with concurrence of the State organization. The State organization supports sending the championship team to the National competition by providing transportation and team housing for the nine team members and their coach. The team is responsible for any food requirements outside of the meals provided at the National competition.

Computation of Grade Point Averages

The following guidelines are to be used to compute official Decathlon grade point averages. These criteria must be followed to ensure uniformity and equity among all participants in the Alaska Academic Decathlon.

Grades from the following transcripts are considered in computing the GPA for the Academic Decathlon:

Twelfth Graders: All of tenth grade, all of eleventh grade, plus summer session between tenth and eleventh and between eleventh and twelfth.

  Eleventh Graders: All of ninth grade, all of tenth grade, plus summer sessions between ninth and tenth and between tenth and eleventh.

Tenth Graders: All of eighth grade, all of ninth grade, plus summer sessions between eighth and ninth and between ninth and tenth.

Ninth Graders: All of seventh grade, all of eighth grade, plus summer sessions between seventh and eighth and between eighth and ninth.

DO NOT count classes such as performing arts, vocational courses, aerospace, band, bookkeeping, career awareness, concert choir, crafts, dance, driver education, ESL classes, foods classes, library science, mechanics courses, photography, P.E. courses, sewing, sports medicine, typing, or yearbook.

Verification of Eligibility

Each high school MUST submit a copy of the official transcripts of team members to the State Director by the required deadline. The Competition GPA Verification Chairperson shall check the GPA computation in accordance with the above guidelines and verify eligibility of each team member. The team coach shall be notified of any discrepancies.

Foreign students are eligible to participate in the Academic Decathlon. A foreign student who does not possess a valid transcript may participate in the Honors category. If a coach wishes to qualify a foreign student for the Scholastic or Varsity categories, the coach must provide adequate evidence that the student performed at a relative B or C status within the foreign system during the two years prior to participation in the Decathlon.

For the National Finals, the State Director must file a team certification guaranteeing that this is the same team that won the State Championship and that all team members are eligible for the categories as indicated. Official transcripts must accompany this form. In addition, USAD may request seventh semester transcripts directly from the high school in order to verify eligibility.

Questions regarding computing the Decathlon GPA or eligibility of students should be addressed to the State Director at 1-907-868-6994 or e-mail: or to USAD at 562-626-0092 or FAX 562-626-0098 or e-mail:

Participation in the GCI Alaska Academic Decathlon is open to all students regardless of race, creed, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability or handicap.

Substitutions