2025 Recipients
The Alliance for Decision Education Research Grant aims to further develop the field of Decision Education through both descriptive and applied research, guided by the key research areas defined in our Research Agenda. Funded studies will work towards our goals of building the evidence base for Decision Education by addressing key research gaps, and generating insights that demonstrate the impact on students’ lives, inform policy, and drive effective implementation in schools nationwide.
With over $1 million in funding awarded, the Alliance is delighted to announce our inaugural selection.
Funded Projects
Date Awarded:
September 2025
Principal Investigator:
Azzurra Ruggeri, Ph.D., Professor of Cognitive and Developmental Psychology, Technical University of Munich
Institution:
Technical University of Munich
Developing and Testing the Active Learning and Decision Assessment Protocol (ADAPT)
To support the design and validation of the first comprehensive, developmentally appropriate, classroom-friendly measurement tool for decision-making competencies in children and adolescents aged 8–16 years. Aligned with the Alliance for Decision Education’s 2022 K-12 Learning Standards, this measurement tool aims to bridge research and practice, enabling educators to identify student needs, evaluate interventions, and support longitudinal research into how decision-making skills develop across diverse contexts.
Why this is important for the field of Decision Education: This tool will make it easier to measure students’ decision-making skills consistently, giving educators and researchers clearer insights into how to support student development.
Date Awarded:
September 2025
Principal Investigator:
Julia Minson, Ph.D., Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Institution:
Harvard Kennedy School
Using Generative AI to Train Teens in Engagement with Opposing Views
To support a randomized control study testing a training program consisting of short instructional videos and custom-designed AI-driven chatbots to enhance high school students’ ability to engage with opposing views. The training program uses a scalable, tech-enabled intervention to improve open-mindedness and self-regulation that then reduces selective exposure and biased assimilation of evidence.
Why this is important for the field of Decision Education: Open-mindedness and self-regulation are key aspects of Decision Education’s learning domains, including Valuing and Applying Rationality and Recognizing and Resisting Cognitive Biases. The study tests an intervention designed to help students engage thoughtfully with differing perspectives, reduce confirmation bias, and make more informed decisions. Because the intervention is technology-based and scalable, it has the potential to be implemented in classrooms nationwide.
Date Awarded:
September 2025
Principal Investigators:
Audrey Michal, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan-Flint
Priti Shah, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Institution:
University of Michigan-Flint
Impacts of an Everyday Scientific Reasoning Intervention on Evidence-Based Health Decision-Making Among Adolescents
To support testing the impact of a scientific reasoning curriculum on adolescents’ decision-making skills. This curriculum is designed to support students’ ability to critically assess health information, aiming to improve reasoning, open-minded thinking, and ultimately, health-related decision-making.
Why this is important for the field of Decision Education: This study will add to the evidence base of effective, school-based curricular interventions by evaluating the impact of an intervention designed to improve adolescents’ ability to critically assess health information.
Date Awarded:
September 2025
Principal Investigators:
Laura Mason, Ed.D., Curriculum Development Director, Tennessee Board of Regents
Juliette Biondi, Director, Tennessee Board of Regents
Institution:
Tennessee Board of Regents
SAILS (Seamless Alignment and Integrated Learning Support) Mathematical Reasoning for Decision Making (MRDM)
To support an evaluation of a Decision Education curriculum, Mathematical Reasoning for Decision Making (which includes modules in finance, algebra, geometry, and statistics), among over 7,000 high school students in Tennessee and its impact on students’ financial literacy and post-secondary planning. The project will also test the hypothesis that students are more deeply engaged in alternative math pathways that incorporate Decision Education.
Why this is important for the field of Decision Education: This research will add to the evidence base of effective interventions and explore best practices for scaling Decision Education to a broad range of students.
Date Awarded:
September 2025
Principal Investigators:
Mike Sell, Ph.D., Professor of Language, Literature, and Writing, Indiana University of Pennsylvania Research Institute
Rachel Schiera, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Education, Lander University
Institutions:
Indiana University of Pennsylvania Research Institute
Decision Education, Decision Literacy, and Digital Storytelling in the High School English Language Arts Classroom
To support the creation of high school English Language Arts materials that embed decision-making concepts from the K–12 Decision Education Learning Standards and incorporate performance-based measures of “decision literacy.”
Why this is important for the field of Decision Education: This study explores effective interventions for incorporating Decision Education into English Language Arts classrooms, adding to the research base on how Decision Education can be integrated into core subjects.
