The Decision Education Foundation (DEF), a nonprofit organization, was launched in 2001 by a group of professional and academic decision analysts with ties to Stanford University. The foundation’s mission is to improve people’s lives by improving the quality of their decisions.

Decision analysis began as a highly abstract theory rooted in mathematics and accessible to only a few. Over time, it evolved into an applied discipline employing trained professionals to assist clients confronted with complex decisions. The term “decision analysis” was coined in 1963 by Ron Howard, director of the Decision Analysis Program of the Department of Management Science and Engineering in the School of Engineering at Stanford University. (See interview.) Howard was a co-founder of Strategic Decisions Group, a strategy consulting firm headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, that, since 1981, has worked with businesses interested in generating new options and opportunities for growth. Having seen the benefits businesses gained from using decision analysis principles, he and his colleagues at Strategic Decisions Group established DEF to introduce these practices to a wider audience. Howard is president of the DEF board and Carl Spetzler, another Strategic Decisions Group cofounder, is vice-president. Strategic Decisions Group is incubating DEF, providing office space and operational support to ensure that the organization gets off to a strong start.

Although decision-making is a critical life skill, few people are taught how to make good decisions. At best, they learn by trial and error; at worst, they muddle through life unaware that they could do things differently and arrive at more satisfactory results. DEF believes that people can be taught to make good decisions early in life and, in so doing, not only avoid unnecessary problems but lead more fulfilling lives. With that in mind, the initial focus of their program has been on teenagers, along with their teachers and parents. Certainly teenagers aren’t alone in acting without considering consequences. Many adults also behave impulsively or indulge in wishful thinking. Everyone occasionally hopes that a thorny situation will magically right itself, that a troubling problem will go away, and that everything will turn out for the best. Similarly, people of all ages sometimes resist taking responsibility for their behavior. The difference is that these behaviors tend to be more common—and extreme—among teenagers.


Starting young

Teaching decision skills to teenagers is a natural starting place. They are old enough to grasp the concepts and at age when they have to make important choices which few are prepared to handle. Adolescence is a famously stormy period characterized by feelings of self-consciousness, confusion, and insecurity. In limbo between dependence and independence, teenagers struggle to figure out who they are and what they want. Their eagerness to belong and to be accepted makes them particularly susceptible to peer pressure and “group think”—and, consequently, to making poor decisions.

By adolescence, teenagers begin to flex their muscles. They want more freedom and resent being told what to do. But there is a big difference between rebelling against something or someone and making a reasoned choice to do one thing rather than another. Many teenagers don’t think of themselves as decision-makers or, for that matter, as having power. That is equally true of gifted students and troubled youth, DEF learned. The gifted students are accustomed to having parents, teachers, and counselors make decisions for them, and the troubled youth see themselves as victims of choices made by others--authority figures or their peers.


The DEF decision chain

Taking these factors into account, the DEF team set out to develop a decision-making system that teenagers could readily grasp and use. The field of decision analysis draws on an extensive body of theory and practices from multiple disciplines, including decision theory, psychology, group dynamics, mathematics, and probability. Extracting the basic concepts and principles from decision analysis, the team created a decision chain, a six-step process for making good decisions. The chain consists of six critical elements involving framing the problem, looking at creative alternatives, gathering important information, knowing what you value, using sound reasoning, and committing to follow through. To illustrate the interconnections among the six elements, DEF uses a drawing of a chain-link bracelet. Each link is essential and has equal importance in the decision process. As DEF teaches, a decision is only as good as it weakest link.

Learning how to make a decision is important, but the thrust of the DEF program is to drive home to teenagers that they have the power to make decisions and that the decisions they make have consequences. The decision chain gives them a tool for taking an active role in shaping their lives and making better choices, but it cannot guarantee that students will always get what they want. That is why DEF emphasizes process over outcome. A good decision is judged by the effort that goes into it making it. Following the decision-chain steps increases the chance of having a good outcome, but sometimes even a well-made decision may not bring the desired results. Some things are simply beyond individual control. A disappointment is easier for teenagers to live with, however, when they know they did everything in their power to make the right choice.


Reaching teenagers

The small DEF staff is supported by a growing group of volunteers--teachers, social workers, graduate students and others trained in decision analysis—eager to bring decision analysis principles to the schools. The DEF team recognized that teachers already had their hands full meeting basic requirements. To avoid burdening them with more work, the DEF team developed curricula for high school math and language arts classes that tied classroom learning to real-life situations students face. Besides print materials, DEF also devised interactive games and role-playing exercises that reinforce decision-making principles. In 2001, DEF began introducing the curricula to teenagers in a variety of settings--boys and girls clubs, juvenile hall, children’s shelters, gifted programs and public schools—and offered the first of its summer institutes to train teachers in using the new materials.

But DEF had a larger aim: For decision-making to take hold, it would have to be part of the entire school curricula. The first step toward that goal was realized this year when four public schools in the Philadelphia area agreed to launch the Whole School Integration program. To ensure its success, the DEF staff and volunteers will train teachers, develop and publish DEF materials, and evaluate the students’ progress. Moreover, DEF has started a Curricula Repository, a Web site from which teachers can download teaching materials or share lesson plans that they have developed.


Using decision skills in everyday life

The more opportunities students have to apply the decision model in school, the more likely they are to use it in everyday life. DEF’s goal is to have the decision process become so familiar to students that it becomes second nature, a mental checklist for making decisions. Just as important as learning the method is knowing when to use it. Applying it to easy choices would be a waste of time. It is when students confront big decisions that have high stakes—using drugs, having unprotected sex, selecting which colleges to apply to—that having a rational process to draw on is essential.

Becoming an active decision maker involves more than taking on immediate decisions; it also involves anticipating situations and their consequences. Posing real-life situations, such as how to respond to insults or hurtful gossip or pressure from friends to cheat or steal, may encourage teenagers to think ahead. Having them think through the decision process when they are calm can help them make better decisions in the heat of the moment when it may be hard to think clearly. Preparing responses ahead of time, sometimes keeps confrontations from happening or, at least, prevents them from escalating. Anticipating choices is not limited to negative situations. As teenagers become more comfortable and confident decision-makers, they can use the decision-making process to create opportunities for themselves. By taking stock periodically of where they are and imagining where they would rather be, they can actively take charge of shaping and influencing their futures.

Only four years into its program, DEF has made great strides in moving its ambitious mission forward. It has introduced its curricula to schools in California, Iowa, and Pennsylvania and launched its first Whole School Integration program in Philadelphia’s inner schools. This year DEF received a $200,000 challenge grant from the Susquehanna and Rembrandt Foundations; the grantors pledged to match one dollar for every one dollar DEF raised up to $200,000. The additional funding will give DEF a tremendous boost in carrying forth its mission. Meanwhile, it continues seeking additional partnerships with charter, alternative, and independent schools to spread its mission: Better decisions, better lives.