History and Format

• The CAD concept originated in 1968 with an educator and then-superintendent of schools in Orange County, Dr. Robert D. Peterson. Dr. Peterson envisaged a local competition to promote academic excellence in a team environment. The popularity of this concept led to the founding of the CAD Association in 1979.
  
  Competitors sit for 30-minute multiple-choice tests in economics, art, music, language and literature, mathematics, science and social science. Each student also gives a planned, four-minute speech, a two-minute impromptu speech, attends a seven-minute interview and writes an essay within 50 minutes. The decathlon's Super Quiz Oral Relay involves a science or social science topic and is the only event that the public can attend. The top three Super Quiz teams receive team awards.
  
  

CAD-CAF Scholarships

• The CAD offers various scholarships to graduating seniors on the basis of financial need to assist them to attend college, an otherwise unattainable goal. In 2008, the CAD partnered with the California Access Foundation (CAF) in awarding college scholarships to graduating seniors who participated in the decathlon and met all entrance requirements for the University of California (UC) system. The scholarship values ranged between $1,500 and $2,000.
  
  

County Recognition

• Teams that get through the round one nonscoring scrimmage and round two district and county contests qualify for the round three CAD state finals. Some county programs provide scholarships to winning individuals. For example, in 2007 the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) Board of Education accepted a $10,000 donation from SAFE Credit Union to provide scholarships for contestants in the Sacramento County Academic Decathlon. The award values for each team member were $400 for first place, $200 for second place, $100 for third place and $100 to the highest scoring decathlete on each remaining team.
  
  

Rewarding the State and National Champions

• The CAD overall winning team represents California in the round four United States Academic Decathlon (USAD). In 2011, honors went to the Decathletes from Granada Hills Charter High School (GHCHS) and marked their first-ever state and national titles. GHCHS established a scholarship fund for team members.