The Decision Education Foundation Newsletter

December 2007

In this issue:

• Decision Skills Take Center Stage at A3
• DEF Visits Bay Area High Schools
• New Certificate Program for Educators Launching This Summer
• Meet Our Newest Partner: Sigourney High School District in Iowa

Dear DEF Friends,

We have had an exciting and rewarding fall, starting with Annie Duke's entertaining and informative October 27 presentation, "Good Decision Making and Other Life Lessons Learned from Poker." We heard many positive comments about Annie's talk from the capacity crowd who attended. The event was also a wonderful opportunity to catch up with our many friends.

DEF continues to make progress in relationships with partner organizations, a few of which are highlighted in this newsletter. In 2008, we're looking forward to creating new partner relationships, offering a workshop for parents, publishing our humanities curriculum materials, introducing our new Web site, and launching our new certificate program for educators interested in teaching decision skills. This certificate program, sponsored by the Stanford Center for Professional Development (SCPD), will enable us to attract new teachers and administrators to DEF. Plus, it will allow us to reach and train teachers from around the world through SCPD's online courses.

To make this exciting program available to all interested educators, including those from schools and programs with limited resources, we need to raise a scholarship fund of $120,000. In addition, we need to raise $50,000 by December 31, 2007, to capture the full matching grant from one of our major donors. We hope that when you decide on your end-of-the-year tax-deductible donations, you will consider a contribution to DEF. To make a donation, please click here.

Thank you for your continuing support of DEF and our very best wishes for a happy holiday season.

Sincerely,

Laurie Mandel
Managing Director

Decision Education Foundation
Better Decisions - Better Lives

Decision Skills Take Center Stage at A3

In October, students at the innovative Academy of Arts and Academics (A3) in Springfield, Oregon, staged a public performance at the Wildish Community Theatre to illustrate what they have been learning about decision skills in their partnership with DEF. The artistic pieces included a dramatic sketch, dance pieces, and a computer-generated film.

In the dramatic piece, a flashback structure was used, similar to that in "Groundhog Day." A student grappling with a decision repeatedly made different choices until the best outcome was achieved. The dance numbers brought to life elements of the decision chain, elaborating on the themes of values, alternatives, and commitment. The students clearly put a lot of energy and creativity into the project had fun with it, and the audience responded enthusiastically.

Teachers and resident artists at the school were impressed with the students' ownership of the event. The idea for it had been generated during a brainstorming session at this year's DEF Summer Institute at A3. School director Michael Fischer noted how the project got students to focus on and internalize the decision skills curriculum at the beginning of the school year, so the skills can now be reinforced throughout the year.

Through this public event, students and staff at A3 celebrated their intention to make good decision making an important part of their learning community.

DEF Visits Bay Area High Schools

This fall, DEF has had the opportunity to teach in several Bay Area high school classrooms. These visits serve multiple purposes, from demonstration teaching to curriculum piloting.

In October, Meg Barrager taught a senior section of Wendy Garner's Social Justice class at Amador high school in Pleasanton. Ms. Garner writes, "The insights and 'student friendly' examples that explained the decision chain provided the students with an accessible framework that we will revisit throughout the year."

In November, Meg reached out to sophomores in Bob Caplan's advisory class at Mount Madonna School in Watsonville. In January, she will teach a sophomore academic skills class at Saint Francis in Mountain View. Meg reports many "memorable moments" where students were clearly connecting with the idea of themselves as decision makers: "It's certainly inspiring to see young people making a list of alternatives for a situation where they previously thought they had no choices."

DEF thanks all the teachers and schools who have graciously invited us to participate in their programs!

New Certificate Program for Educators Launching This Summer

Starting in June 2008, educators interested in teaching decision skills will be eligible to earn a Stanford Strategic Decision and Risk Management certificate with a specialization in decision education. The Strategic Decision and Risk Management Program (SDRM) is sponsored jointly by the Stanford Center for Professional Development and Strategic Decisions Group. DEF, in partnership with Stanford and SDG, will introduce a set of courses tailored for schools and educators planning to introduce decision education to youth from fifth to twelfth grades. Educators who wish to gain the certificate will take two core courses in decision education and four electives from the original SDRM program. An advantage of the SDRM program is its flexibility: participants can take scheduled courses on the Stanford campus or online at their convenience; alternatively, DEF can deliver the courses at individual schools and other organizations. This greatly increases our reach.

The program for educators will include a framework and materials for teaching decision skills with equal effectiveness to at-risk, mainstream, and high- achieving students.

Participants will learn how to:

• Identify and teach the essential elements of a good decision
• Work on the right problem, in the right way, with the right people
• Achieve decision quality
• Make good decisions under pressure
• Avoid the behaviors and biases that interfere with good decision making
• Teach decision skills separately or as part of an existing curriculum
• Motivate young people to learn and use good decision skills
• Create and deliver decision skills curricula to students.

Contact us if you would like more information about this new opportunity for educators to specialize in decision education.

Meet Our Newest Partner: Sigourney High School District in Iowa

The Sigourney School District in southeastern Iowa is DEF's latest partner. We plan to work with Sigourney's eSeal Entrepreneurial Charter School program, in which students will focus their studies on creating and developing their own business ventures. Making good decisions will certainly play a key role in the success of their efforts.

The partnership began when six Sigourney representatives, including instructors from the district's alternative school and local community college, attended the 2007 DEF Summer Institute at Stanford. Superintendent Todd Abrahamson was convinced of the value of DEF's message when teachers returning home began calling in to thank him for sending them to the week-long workshop.

In October, the Sigourney-DEF relationship reached a new level of community involvement when the town's mayor participated in an in-service training for more than 70 teachers. As a result of this training, the entire faculty from middle through high school has now been exposed to DEF concepts, making the vocabulary a common language.

Teachers who intend to incorporate DEF material more deeply into their curricula will have an opportunity for more training next summer when Sigourney plans to sponsor a summer institute on site.

The Decision Education Foundation Newsletter

September 2007

In this issue:

• DEF Takes a Road Trip
• Fourth Graders Learn to Make Better Decisions and Protect the Places they Love
• Launch of Decision-Focused Magnet Schools
• DEF in the News

Dear DEF Friends,

This has been a busy and rewarding summer for DEF, and we're looking forward to a fall season marked by exciting events, the continuation of our existing initiatives, and the launch of even more new programs. Some of the summer's highlights include:

• Successful completion of four summer institutes in Stanford, California; Omaha, Nebraska; Haverford, Pennsylvania; and Springfield, Oregon. The open-enrollment Stanford workshop was well attended by educators from across the country and as far away as Bolivia. The remaining workshops were designed for educators within our partner schools.
• Launch of the Decision Sciences magnet schools program in the Omaha Public School system.
• Completion of the decision-skills English curriculum by Dan Slack who spent last year with DEF and now returns to The Haverford School as Dean of Faculty with a mission to implement a successful decision-skills curriculum.
• Initial work on a history curriculum by Stuart Morris, instructor at Sacred Heart Academy in Menlo Park, California.
• A new partner: Sigourney Unified School District, Sigourney, Iowa; which is starting a charter school focused on entrepreneurship.
• Agreement with Stanford University to create a Certificate in Decision Education as part of the Stanford Decision and Risk Management Program (SDRM). Participants will have several options for pursuing this study area, either as an individual study or as electives within the SDRM program. We'll provide more details about this exciting opportunity shortly.
• The addition of Betty Skov to our team, which led to significant progress on our branding with the creation of our new logo and collateral materials. An updated Web site will follow soon.
• The joining of Laurie Mandel as our managing director, which is helping create more rapid progress in our startup organization. Laurie's experience as a classroom teacher and trainer, as well as her recent role as chief administrative officer of Strategic Decisions Group, have served as excellent preparation for her new role. Laurie says, "DEF is the perfect place to combine my respect for decision skills with my love of education." We couldn't agree more!
• Looking forward to the next few months, we'll be welcoming our newest board member, Annie Duke, with a special event - "An Evening with Annie Duke" - on October 27 in Palo Alto. As a champion professional poker player, author and mother of four, Annie brings to DEF a powerful perspective on the importance of decision skills for both personal and professional success.

As we reflect on our latest accomplishments and exciting opportunities ahead, we know that it is only through the efforts of our hard-working staff, dedicated volunteers and community of supporters that we're able to turn exciting possibilities into even more exciting realities.

Carl Spetzler
Executive Director

Decision Education Foundation
Better Decisions - Better Lives

DEF Takes a Road Trip

This summer, educators, counselors, and mentors from across the country and as far away as Bolivia gathered in four cities to explore the teaching of decision skills to their students. DEF conducted week-long workshops in Omaha, Springfield, OR, Philadelphia, and Stanford, CA. During the workshops, case studies and real-life examples of kids facing important decisions, along with the elements of good decision making, were presented. Teachers also created specific lesson plans for teaching decision skills as a standalone subject and as a part of traditional subjects such as language arts, history, and math.

Workshop highlights included Annie Duke's talk at the Stanford workshop about "sunk costs", Steve Tani's risky decision example involving space travel, Eric Bickel's introduction to the baseball metaphor for decision analysis, and Dan Slack's presentation on integrating decision skills into English classes.

Many attendees are eager to apply the workshop material in their schools. "I'm very excited about bringing this to our staff and students so they will be able to make better decisions," said John Guglielmetti, a guidance counselor from Sigourney, Iowa. "I'm confident that the DEF model is the one for us to use." Several attendees also plan to pilot materials in their classrooms this fall and others plan to use the decision making framework as a tool for improving student discipline.

Last but not least, the workshops provided DEF with potential new school partnership opportunities. Thanks to all who attended the workshops and helped to make the summer of 2007 a success!

Fourth Graders Learn to Make Better Decisions and Protect the Places they Love

Earlier this year, 25 fourth graders from East Palo Alto Charter School learned about decision making in a rather unusual way. For over a year now, DEF has been working with its partner The Riekes Center to come up with fun ways to teach decision concepts to youth. In June, Ken Clarkson and Marc Batchelor from the Riekes Nature Program joined Meg Barrager from DEF to help Ms. Kling's fourth grade class think creatively about how to protect the Baylands area behind their school. Throughout the spring, Ken and Marc led the students on cyber tracking field trips (cyber tracking is a techno-savvy way of recording data about species in a given area). When Meg joined the class in June, she was interested in leading the students to some concrete decisions about how to protect the Baylands. The students were asked to consider their own personal values, the information they had gathered during their research, what alternatives they should propose and possible outcomes they could imagine. For Ms. Kling's kids, the decision tree was a real one-with roots, branches, leaves and fruits.
"The kids were incredible," says Meg. "They came up with all kinds of possible outcomes and seemed to understand more deeply than many adults what a decision is! They were truly involved and raised issues like difficult tradeoffs: If we decide to build a bench on the Baylands, we might destroy animal homes but we might also encourage people to come to enjoy the space and protect it." The students acknowledged that the decisions they faced were more complex than they had thought.

This fall, the teaching team of Ken, Meg and Marc plan to take a group of these students to present their "decisions" to city council or an influential board of conservation. Stay tuned for more news!

Launch of Decision-Focused Magnet Schools

In August, Benson High School in Omaha, Nebraska opened as the nation's first magnet high school based on decision sciences. Benson and its partner magnet school, Morton Middle School, will work to incorporate decision skills into every class, with aspirations to develop a new style of teaching, a new way of learning and an emphasis on working with the community on local issues. DEF's decision-making methodology is at the heart of this effort.

Jennifer Meyer, a graduate of Omaha Tech High (one of the first magnet schools in the district), is leading the efforts for DEF. Jennifer earned her doctorate in management science at Stanford and is a consultant with Strategic Decisions Group. Jennifer jumped at the chance to work with Omaha Public Schools on the new magnet schools. The project provides an opportunity to be involved with and give back to the Omaha community as well as bring skills and concepts she is passionate about to a broader community.

DEF is providing training, coaching and curriculum development support to ensure high quality results. Our training began last December with a two-day session for teachers and administrators in the fundamentals of good decision making. The first session was expanded to an in-depth training for the initial group, followed by a full summer institute for a second group. Additional training for this fall is being scheduled . One of the work products of this effort is a "backbone" curriculum guide that covers the essential information about good decision making in a form that will be available to all teachers in the magnet schools.
Benson High School and Morton Middle School are poised to become leaders in adopting DEF's decision making curriculum. For DEF, the launch of the Benson and Morton magnets is a major milestone that generates further momentum for our efforts.

DEF in the News

The Haverford School, in partnership with DEF, is incorporating decision skills across its curriculum
A New Focus on Decision-Making at the Haverford School
The Omaha Public School District is including the study of decision skills in their new magnet school program.
Benson Hopes to Benefit from Hard Analysis
Champaign County Juvenille Detention Center and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign team with DEF to help at-risk youth.
Teaching Decision Skills to Troubled Teens

Decision Education Foundation Newsletter

April 2007

In this issue:

• Stanford Summer Institute
• Winter Visit to A3
• Omaha Gearing for Launch
• Foothill Retrospective Dear

DEF Friends,

During the winter and spring, DEF has continued to strengthen its programs and develop curricula. We have initiated a partnership with Omaha Public Schools to develop a magnet school based on decision science. Many other exciting efforts are under way. Some specific items I would like to highlight are the following:

• The Summer Institute to be held on the Stanford campus July 9-13 will be open enrollment. We would appreciate your help in letting educators know about it and identifying potential partners participants for us to contact. Other partner institutes this summer will be held at The Haverford School, A3 our partner school in Springfield Oregon, and with the magnet schools in Omaha.
• We are expanding our curriculum to incorporate lessons from the behavioral decision sciences. In light of the new understanding about decision behavior, we had a panel discussion with the DEF Advisory Council on what aspects we want to teach high school youth to improve their decision-making skills.
• Dan Slack of The Haverford School is making significant progress in building an English curriculum, and we are signing up sites to beta-test it next year.
• In preparation for becoming more public to receive the benefit of national attention, we have launched a branding project to enhance the DEF image, collateral materials, and website.
• These efforts would not be possible without the support of volunteers and friends who are connecting DEF with the right people and partner organizations and helping fund our mission.

With your help, we are continuing to improve people's lives by helping them develop greater decision skills.

Carl

Carl Spetzler
Executive Director

Decision Education Foundation
Better Decisions - Better Lives

Stanford Summer Institute

The DEF team is excited and busy preparing for this summer’s course “Teaching Decision Skills” at Stanford University July 9th-13th. The course will bring teachers, mentors and administrators together for a week of intensive decision skills training. Jennifer Meyer, Senior Program Director at DEF and Carl Spetzler, Executive Director, will teach with the addition of several guest lecturers. The course is designed to teach the fundamentals of decision making and to help participants explore ways of integrating decision skills into their existing curriculum and programs. The course provides a fun and innovative way for participants to adopt new ideas and meet interesting colleagues in an atmosphere of creativity and exploration. We have lots of sign-ups thus far and encourage all interested parties to register with Meg Barrager. Contact Ms. Barrager

Winter Visit to A3

In February the DEF Program Directors Meg Barrager and Chris Spetzler headed to Oregon for an in-service day with the staff of the Academy of Arts and Sciences (A3) in Springfield. The day was spent reviewing decision concepts and sharing stories of how teachers are using decision power, and the creative plans for moving these concepts forward in their program. A3 is using decision skills concepts to influence their students’ academic and emotional experiences in the school environment, and to help their students achieve the most powerful results from their decisions. One teacher described her experience using DEF concepts: “I have been asking kids questions related to the decision chain to help them with their big decisions. Our kids are making decisions hugely on the emotional front. Many have issues around flexibility and impulsivity. A thoughtful decision process holds them accountable for their decisions. It has been a wonderful tool.” DEF loves to hear these stories and looks forward to the upcoming summer institute in Oregon (August) and future projects with the A3 school. A3

Omaha Gearing for Launch

DEF made news in the Omaha World Herald in January with our involvement in the coming launch this fall of Benson High School as the nation's first magnet high school based on decision sciences. Omaha Public Schools

The article reports how Benson and its partner, Morton Middle School, will work to incorporate decision skills into every class, with aspirations to develop a new style of teaching, a new way of learning and an emphasis on working with the community. DEF’s decision science methodology is at the heart of this effort.

At the Benson Center for Academic Research and Innovation, students and teachers will team with community members to work through issues impacting quality of life in the surrounding area. Students driving projects is at the heart of the magnet concept that responds to parent and student feedback for students to be more invested in what they are learning and see results through community involvement.

Special labs to support four research areas - arts, media and culture, civic design, invention, and universal perspectives- are being added this summer. The breadth of the research areas will allow students to take on diverse subjects from multimedia production to design and construction of rockets.

While the new methods will be seen in some classes right away, over time every class will reflect the changes. A core course in decision skills will be taught freshman year. Courses like English, math and social studies will have decision skills elements added as well. All grades will eventually participate in the program.

Benson principal Lisa Dale is excited by the program’s promise to build on the school's strengths and add to existing projects. The Rocket Club, currently working with NASA, and a Junior ROTC group that runs a recycling effort are examples.

Jennifer Meyer, a graduate of Omaha Tech High (one of the first magnet schools in the district), is leading the efforts for DEF. Jennifer earned her doctorate in management science at Stanford and is a consultant with Strategic Decisions Group. Jennifer jumped at the chance to work with OPS on the new magnet schools. The project provides an opportunity to be involved with and give back to the Omaha community as well as bringing skills and concepts she is passionate about to a broader community.

DEF is providing training, coaching and curriculum development support to ensure high quality results of this effort. Our training began last December with a three-day session for the group of “Pioneer” teachers and administrators in the decision science methodology. That training is continuing with a series of one-day sessions to explore specific elements of decision quality in more detail. One of the work products of this effort is a “backbone” curriculum guide that covers the essential information about the methodology in a form that will be available to all teachers in the magnet schools. The formal training will continue when the next group of pioneers receives five days of training in July.

In addition to training for the pioneers, DEF is providing guidance on curriculum development. We are working with two groups of curriculum writers, one at Benson and one at Morton, each working on the detailed curriculum for the new core decision courses. Jennifer is playing the role of a facilitative leader in this process as well as providing content and perspective to make sure there is fidelity to the concepts advanced by DEF.

Foothill Retrospective

Five years ago, when the Decision Education Foundation took on improving decision making skills in youth, a first step was the development and teaching of a course to a group of high-school students. The course was offered through Foothill Community College's Talented Youth Program. Taught by Steve Tani, Carl Spetzler, Dave Reiter and Ali Abbas, the course was well received by students - but what about lasting impact?

As DEF is currently directing effort into assessing and evaluating program activities, we decided to find out from this first group: Where are they today and what impact has this course had on them?

Fifteen students took part in the course. They undertook projects to analyze decisions situations that included whether or not to date, helping a parent decide whether to change jobs, and college choice. Our interviews showed that to this day they remember the presentations, and they remember decision games they played, especially that they had the chance to win money. While they admitted to not doing a lot of decision tree drawing in the mean time, their comments highlighted that you don't always need the math to get the benefit. Andrew Saxe is currently at Princeton studying electrical engineering with an emphasis on artificial intelligence, neuroscience and robotics. He has used decision analytic techniques in school and with friends. He remembers acting as a decision coach to a friend deciding whether to go to a peace rally or a theatre production meeting, where the friend felt strongly about the cause balanced against the consequences of not being present at the meeting. Andrew's current challenge is designing a car that will travel 60 miles unmanned in a city as part of a team in the DARPA grand challenge.

Adeline Wong is studying mathematics and computer science at Stanford. She has seen and used cost benefit analysis and the concept of opportunity cost in her studies. She remembers developing a greater appreciation of the depth of the topics around decision making.

Kevin Ip is currently studying electrical engineering at Santa Cruz. He mentioned that the topic of values and trade-offs has been particularly meaningful -what are the things that we want and how should we go about pursuing them? Andrew pointed out that sometimes what seems to be a hard choice among equally good alternatives may not be worth all the fuss - just choose and move forward with confidence.

This lesson can be of particular value to stressed Seniors agonizing over which college to go to when the have good alternatives. In a similar vein, the lessons of cumulative probabilities to prospective college students helps to recognize that they are likely to get in somewhere. The feedback from interviews increased DEF’s confidence that many lessons from this course have had a lasting impact.

Decision Education Foundation Newsletter

January 2007

In this issue:

• DEF Celebrates 5 Years of Service
• Riekes Nepal Film Project
• Activities at the Riekes Center
• Art Contest Winners Announced
• Omaha Public Schools
• Girls for a Change
• OICW
• INFORMS
• Decision Training at Mastery Charter

Dear DEF Friends,

In November, we celebrated the accomplishments of our first five years with an anniversary dinner and special program held at the Riekes Center, one of our valued partner organizations.

In the fall of 2001, members of the Stanford decision community committed to creating the Decision Education Foundation. Our vision remains the same as it was in those early days — to equip young people with powerful decision skills. Our tag line, “Better Decisions – Better Lives”, says it well.

We’ve spent our first five years understanding the immensity of the challenge, distilling the most suitable instructional elements from graduate school and business seminar content, experimenting to find the best approaches and working with partner institutions. We have been joined by successful and generous entrepreneurs and educators from Philadelphia who had been pursuing a similar goal.

Now, we’re ready to scale up and become more visible. We’ve added three new staff members and plan to add three more during 2007. We’re investing in the development of more classroom-ready curricula and adding new partner schools. And once again, we’ll double the number of “partner institutes.”
The challenge of empowering youth belongs to all of us. DEF is a not-for-profit organization that relies on donors, volunteers and friends to support our work. We have an inspiring vision, but we need your continued support to make it a reality.

There are several ways to help us achieve our goal of Better Decisions – Better Lives:

• Help us connect to the right places. DEF succeeds by partnering with educators and schools. DEF needs to reach out to the media, to potential benefactors and to community leaders.
• Volunteer. Volunteers are the backbone of DEF’s work, assisting in curriculum development, teacher training, school support, marketing, fundraising and public relations.
• Donate. Teacher training and classroom implementation are supported through donor-funded initiatives. Matching grants double the impact of your contribution. All contributions are tax-deductible.

DEF Celebrates 5 Years of Service

On the evening of November 18th, the Decision Education Foundation celebrated its fifth anniversary at the Riekes Center in Redwood City, Calif., where plants, flowers and votives transformed a basketball gym into a fall wonderland. The event provided an opportunity for DEF’s partners to share stories and celebrate the ideas that continue to make the organization successful. The evening’s program was emceed by Mark Lewis, a storyteller and teacher from Oregon, whose humor and heartfelt style gave the room an extra glow.

After Carl Spetzler, Executive Director of DEF welcomed the guests, Gary Riekes (founder and director of the Riekes Center) spoke, sharing his appreciation for the way that decision making has helped his program. Gary mentioned how well peer to peer decision coaching has leant itself to the Center’s community, and how at-risk youth at Riekes have used decision skills to improve their confidence. Gary introduced Matt McCroskey and Kenny Meehan, leaders of the student trip to Nepal. Guests were asked to vote for the “best alternative” in the crisis, the real result being revealed in another video segment at the end of the evening.

After dinner, Dan Slack from the Haverford School in Philadelphia presented an engaging slideshow about how he has turned a high school English unit on Macbeth into a great lesson for decision making. Through Dan’s presentation, guests were able to view the creativity of DEF partners in bringing the curriculum to a multitude of settings. Following Dan were Nancy Golden, superintendent of the Springfield, Oregon, School District, and Mike Fischer, director of the A3 Academy in Springfield). Nancy and Mike shared more ways that decision education has made a positive contribution to the lives of their students.

A very special moment of the evening was Bob Loew’s acceptance speech for the Joyce Mattea Howard Volunteer of the Year award. Bob received this award for his dedication in bringing a three-week decision curriculum to his students at Foothill High School in Pleasanton, California. Bob’s classroom material has changed the attitude of several students, who began the program as passive observers. These students are now active participants in life-changing decisions such as drug use, sex, family relationships and careers. At the end of his acceptance speech, Bob said, “This is a true honor. And when I wake up Monday morning, I will start working to earn it all over again.”

November 18th was a beautiful evening, enjoyed by all. DEF was delighted by the interest and support generated by the celebration. Carl Spetzler, a tough judge, was overheard saying: “This event exceeded my highest expectations. Thanks to all our contributors and staff.”

Riekes Nepal Film Project

DEF’s involvement with the Riekes center began with the co-sponsorship of a trip to Nepal for local teens interested in filmmaking and cultural immersion. The trip produced a fantastic film, “The Himalayan Decision,” which had its debut at our 5th Anniversary party. The documentary short chronicles a decision process among the teens, their leaders and Nepalese locals. Quite by chance, the group became stuck in a tiny town just over a mountain from their destination. Due to heavy rainfall, the planned route was washed out, and they were unexpectedly faced with the decision as to whether to return the way they came, thus sacrificing the opportunity to complete their planned project, or find a way to reach their original destination. The students’ film, which documented the thought process and collaboration as they worked to reach a decision and find a creative solution. served as an engaging case study for those who attended the dinner.

Prior to leaving, the group received 16 hours of decision education. Kenny Meehan, one of the filmmakers, had this to say about the role of decision education training on the trip: “We really wanted the kids to own their decisions...not just use easy cop-outs. The decision chain gave us a launch pad for every big decision. Instead of saying, ‘OK, do that,’ we’d say ‘You can do this, or that, or come up with another alternative.’ The most valuable piece of the DEF training was learning to identify decisions in the first place.”

The documentary has already made its way into our Institutes, providing an ongoing entertaining decision case.

Activities at the Riekes Center

After receiving decision training this summer, the Riekes staff has adapted the fundamentals of the process into various levels of their program. Drew Annis, a film and art teacher at the center has spearheaded many projects, bringing his creative energy to all aspects of the center’s culture. Sample projects include peer-to-peer decision mentoring, a hip-hop production course that teaches the fundamentals of a good decision, a student-made film with alternate endings, incorporation of decision questions in the tour of their facilities, nutrition counseling with a focus on decision-making, a wilderness leadership course with a decision component (in progress), and grant writing, to name a few.

DEF’s program director Meg Barrager, a trained social worker, has been creating and using a model of decision mentoring both to help empower students at the Riekes Center and to teach them how to use decision making as a tool for developing confidence and well-being. “Having spent the last two years doing out-patient psychotherapy, I am delighted to have a model for helping young people that does not carry the same stigma and that uses objective ways of solving problems with students and their families. There is a clear and limitless relationship between social work and decision education.”

Art Contest Winners Announced

• 1st Prize: Manqhoba Shia, OICW
• 2nd Prize: Martina Lo, Summit Preparatory
• 3rd Prize: Kimberly Taylor, Home School
• Honorable Mention: Nico Peck

Omaha Public Schools

In November, Omaha Public Schools engaged DEF to provide training for their decision sciences themed Magnet Schools, set to launch in Fall 2007. DEF taught a two-day course in December with a group of individuals central to implementing the Magnet Schools' vision. Two schools, Benson High School and Morton Middle School, will adopt a threefold curriculum focused on decision sciences, project based learning and community involvement. By bringing real community decisions into the classrooms, Morton and Benson will provide students with a distinctive, rigorous and relevant education. The Magnet schools are public “choice” schools: Students from across the city elect to attend, voluntarily increasing ethnic diversity. Thirty-two teachers and administrators attended the initial decision skills training. DEF will work with this group again in the spring to complete the training program. In the meantime, teachers will begin experimenting with decision skills topics in their classrooms right away to develop practical experience implementing the new material. Further sessions during the summer are on the drawing board to train the critical mass of teachers needed to successfully pull off this exciting endeavor.

Girls for a Change

In October, Nicole Nokes (Director of Operations, DEF) and Meg Barrager (Program Director, DEF)had the chance to present at the annual Girls Summit in San Jose, California. The Girls Summit is hosted by the local non-profit Girls for a Change (www.girlsforachange.org). The Girls Summit was an all-day event for more than 2000 middle- and high school girls from the San Francisco Bay Area. Thirty local organizations (including DEF) were asked to host mini-workshops. The girls were assigned to three one-hour workshops sandwiched between speakers and entertainment. DEF's workshop – "The Power to Choose" – helped more than 100 young women to identify important decisions in their lives. One high school student from San Jose said, "I didn't even think about this stuff before. I just always thought I had to do this or that." The event was an inspiration for many, providing a successful model of local non-profits working together for the benefit of all.

OICW

In addition to working with the Youth Advisory Council, this fall DEF began working with the Men's and Women's Groups at the Opportunities Industrialization Center West (OICW). OICW is a job training program in East Palo Alto, Calif., where the Sassy Youth Program concentrates on skills training to help students graduate from high school and secure employment. Class activities and discussions revolved around decision skills and personal decision power. Participants took an active part in developing the direction of the sessions and decided to use the class as an opportunity to complete a video project. The short film produced by the students addressed decision skills related to not getting involved in a fight.

OICW Youth counselor and poetess Kalamu Chache spoke passionately about her experience with DEF and decision skills at the DEF five-year anniversary event. In 2007, DEF is looking forward to providing OICW teachers with further skills training and the potential to bring decision education to the OICW Life Skills courses.

INFORMS

At the INFORMS conference in Pittsburgh in October, operations research and management science (ORMS) professionals heard powerful stories of the Decision Education Foundation's recent experiences in making decision analysis of practical importance to youth. Ron Howard, (Professor, Stanford University) chaired the session, which was well attended. During the presentation, Steve Tani (Partner, Strategic Decisions Group)discussed the importance of declaring decisions, while Ali Abbas (Assistant Professor, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) related his/her experience with teaching youth in a detention center in Illinois – a topic which generated a lively discussion on the need for young people to be proactive in seizing their decision opportunities. Dan Slack, on leave from The Haverford School this year to develop an English curriculum focused on decision skills, spoke about the positive impact that decision skills training is having on the faculty and administration's decision making at Haverford. Having role models who are enthusiastic about the message and personally see its value strengthens the message for students who are getting practical exposure and benefits from decision skills in their classrooms. Chris Spetzler presented DEF's work with the Riekes Center for Human Enhancement, where decision skills are being incorporated into nature studies, creative arts and leadership programs.

Decision Training at Mastery Charter

Teachers at Mastery Charter High School in Philadelphia learned more about teaching decision skills from their colleagues, who shared personal experiences during a one-day training in October. Laura Keane, Director of Social Emotional Learning at Mastery, along with veteran teachers of Mastery's Freshman Seminar, shared stories about the importance of decision skills and the reactions of students to the topics. The teacher training was held off-site at the Susquehanna International Group offices. Susquehanna founder Eric Brooks shared his convictions regarding the power of good decisions. Decision expert Paul Shoemaker presented the subtle complexities of the decision frame. Participants shared their personal decision perspectives and learned from each other's experiences during what was truly a remarkable event. While teachers were frank about the challenges of teaching decision making to central Philly students, they recently chose to move the decision making section forward in the school year. This will make the vocabulary and concepts available for tough discussion topics like sex, drugs and violence, where personal choice is key.

Decision Education Foundation Newsletter

Summer 2006

In this issue:

• DEF Expands Number of Summer Partner Trainings
• Reports from the Field: Our Partnerships Hard at Work
• The Empowering Nature of Whole School Integration
• Improved Service through Staff Expansion
• Generous Donations Expand the Foundation
• Save the Date!

SAVE THE DATE! NOVEMBER 18th!
'Better Decisions Works for Me: Partner Stories of Success
DEF's 5th Anniversary Gala
DEF is meeting an unprecedented demand for decision education! Read on to learn about recent happenings at DEF.

DEF Expands Number of Summer Partner Trainings
This summer, DEF extended its curriculum offerings to a diverse group of students and teachers in five separate trainings. Attendees learned the fundamentals of good decision making through lively role-plays and personal decision projects. Many of the attendees have since begun to incorporate the principles of decision making into their personal and professional lives. Next summer, DEF hopes to double the number of trainings once again.

Reports from the Field: Our Partnerships Hard at Work

CALIFORNIA - The Riekes Center for Human Enhancement is a mentoring center that serves Bay Area youth from various backgrounds. In May, DEF ran the first of two summer workshops aimed at helping the staff of Riekes become more effective mentors by using the principles of good decision making. DEF is continuing to expand its relationship with Riekes and will host a second workshop in August.

This summer, DEF collaborated with the film department of the Riekes center to sponsor a group of 15 high school students on a month-long trek in Nepal. Prior to leaving, the group received a 16-hour workshop on the six essential questions of good decision making.Now that they have safely returned (and used their decision skills to stay safe while trekking!), the group plans to produce multimedia documentations of their experiences.

OICW: “Nobody’s talking to kids about this [decision making] and it is the very thing that can save their lives,” says DEF program partner Kamalu Chache, describing her motivation to bring decision skills learned at DEF summer institutes to the kids she works with daily at the Opportunities Industrialization Center West (OICW). Students at OICW have used decision making skills to explore opportunities for post-high school employment and summer break plans. In the coming year, DEF will expand its work with OICW to include the basic curriculum in young men and women’s support groups.

PENNSYLVANIA - The Haverford School hosted 30 participants for a third round of staff and faculty training. Our mutual goal is to train all 200 employees in effective decision making as the school continues to find new ways of adapting the curriculum to fit its renowned program. Haverford has participated in DEF summer institute training for three years.

Mastery Charter in Philadelphia will be expanding to four campuses next year. Laura Keene continues to oversee the advisory program where a decision skills unit is part of a comprehensive effort to prepare students with valuable life skills.

OREGON - DEF worked with a dozen educators from the Pacific Northwest this July teaching the fundamentals of decision making along with implementation strategies. Among the educators represented were the staff from A3 (Academy of Arts and Sciences), an innovative charter school opening this September in Springfield. This fall, 100 new students at A3 will find DEF material as part of the school curriculum.DEF’s relationship with A3 was born out of a 2005 summer training that included the superintendent of the Springfield Public Schools District and DEF Advisory Council member Nancy Golden.

The Empowering Nature of Whole School Integration

The concept of Whole School Integration is to incorporating decision skills more deeply into the educational fabric of our partner institutions. When the idea is applied, students are exposed to good decision-making concepts across the standard school curriculum, including advising. In response to teacher interest, DEF is developing material for curriculum interventions in grades K-12 so that students are exposed to the empowering aspects of decision skills early on.

Dan Slack from the Haverford School is spearheading the development of an integrative English course to move the Whole School Integration concept forward. the course will be designed to run for a semester and will tie decision elements to the standard texts used in high schools across the nation. Slack is taking a one-year sabbatical from his classroom duties to develop this key tool for using decision lessons in language arts classes. The work, due to be completed by fall '07, represents a significant maturation of DEF's materials for educators.

Improved Service through Staff Expansion

Staffing changes at DEF are underway as we welcome three new members to the team and shift the executive directorship from Marcy Conn to Carl Spetzler. Marcy is increasing her time as a high school math teacher and is a consultant both to DEF and other clients. DEF appreciates all of Marcy's hard work and we are glad she will continue to contribute as a DEF affiliate. We welcome the following four members to the DEF team:

Carl Spetzler, Executive Director, DEF vice- president and co-founder Carl Spetzler assumed the position of Executive Director for DEF in the spring. Carl has been lead instructor for all DEF summer institutes and has worked very closely with the DEF staff from the inception of the foundation. Carl serves as the chairman of SDG, an consulting firm he helped to create. He is an innovator in the field of decision-making and is dedicated to making the benefits of decision education accessible to everyone.
 
Chris Spetzler, Program Director Chris joined DEF in May, coming from a position as project manager at Alza Pharmaceuticals. As a volunteer, Chris helped create DEF curriculum and co-taught the DEF Summer Institute in 2004. Chris is a graduate of Reed College and Thunderbird School of International Management.
 
Meghan Barrager, Program Director Meg joined DEF this summer from a background in education and psychotherapy. She has taught and counseled at public and private institutions in the Bay Area, Canada, Oregon, and France. Meg will receive her masters in clinical social work from Smith College (Massachusetts) this fall.

Nicole G. Nokes, Operations Director Nicole joins DEF from Stanford University (her alma mater) where she was program manager for the Stanford Center for Professional Development. Nicole has experience working with underserved populations, a special dedication of hers.

The significant increase in staff will allow DEF to effectively support our partnerships and scale up as we build on early successes. The staff increase was made available by a generous grant from the Susquehanna Foundation.

Generous Donations Expand the Foundation

GRANTS PROVIDE $400,000 AND AN UNPRECEDENTED CHALLENGE TO RAISE $250,000
The Susquehanna Foundation has made a phenomenal pledge to match money raised by DEF up to $250,000 in 2006.
YOUR DONATION will help DEF to fully recover this challenge grant.

DEF gratefully acknowledges the generosity of:

• The Brook Lenfest Foundation
• The Louis R. Lurie Foundation for its recent generous support of DEF's work.