Author: Stephanie McLaney (Decision Education Foundation)

Co-Author: Chris Spetzler (Decision Education Foundation)

Abstract:

Decision Education Foundation has tools for assisting youth, educators, and school administrators to learn and benefit from Decision Quality. The Decision Island activity is a creative way to introduce Decision Skills to students (7th –12th grade) and explore what it means to have decision power. The Decision Workspace worksheet helps students work through decisions on their own with an accessible one-page layout. Educators like teachers, counselors, and parents can benefit from the Conversations for Clarity tool (C4C)-- it incorporates more process than the Decision Workspace and is designed to support adults working with youth. Counselors use it to summarize and complement their decision-making conversations with students. Educators, who are not trained as counselors, appreciate C4C as a guide that helps bridge the gap when students turn to them in challenging situations. Parents can use Decision Quality nomenclature as a shared language when navigating difficult decisions with their child. Lastly, when School Administrators learn the Decision Quality model, process and multi-attribute analysis, they can effectively employ them to solve organizationally complex decisions. We have a case study from Oregon that included changing a schedule for four comprehensive high schools.