Alliance for Decision Education Secures $12.5M in Funding to Expand Decision Education Research
Major Philanthropic Investment to Fund a Research Grants and Awards Program to Advance Research on Decision Education
PHILADELPHIA, Pa., March 19, 2024—The Alliance for Decision Education (the Alliance), a national nonprofit organization leading the movement to have decision-making skills taught in K-12 schools, today announced it has received $12.5 million in philanthropic funding for its Decision Education Research Grants and Awards Program. The program will provide funding to support research on Decision Education and establish a robust base of credible evidence on how to best support students as they develop critical decision-making skills to navigate an increasingly complex world.
This Research Grants and Awards Program is the next step in understanding the impact of Decision Education, an interdisciplinary approach to teaching K-12 students skillful judgment formation and decision-making. Existing research demonstrates that decision-making can be learned and improved upon in an adult population. This funding will propel the field of Decision Education by examining decision-making interventions and the teaching and learning of applied decision-making skills with K-12 students.
“The Alliance for Decision Education believes that improving the quality of students’ decision-making will yield profound benefits across every aspect of their lives—from education and careers to relationships, families, communities, and beyond,” said Adriana Massara, Interim Executive Director at the Alliance. “We are driven to ensure that these skills, which are essential to human flourishing, are part of every student’s learning experience. Establishing a robust evidence base will increase awareness of the need for these critical skills for students across the nation.”
This is the latest initiative by the Alliance in driving its mission of improving lives by empowering students with essential skills and dispositions for making better decisions, and it is supported by Alliance Advisory Council members, such as Nobel Laureates, Daniel Kahneman, Ph.D., and Carl Wieman, Ph.D.
“The topic of Decision Education in K-12 classrooms should be on the mind of every parent, teacher, and local, state, and federal government official. This substantial investment in research will help the Alliance establish a knowledge base to understand and implement the most effective ways to bring Decision Education to K-12 classrooms,” said Ali Abbas, Ph.D., Advisory Council member, professor of engineering at the University of Southern California, and expert on decision and risk analysis. “We anticipate that this program will support compelling research on multiple aspects of student decision-making. This fund will also attract more researchers from a diverse range of fields to study Decision Education.”
Through this pioneering program, the Alliance will invest in innovative research projects and recognize exceptional contributions to the field. The initiative will foster further collaboration between researchers from diverse academic backgrounds, including behavioral sciences, decision science, education, economics, philosophy, neuroscience, and more. The goal is to cultivate a rigorous body of research on Decision Education, which will inform the integration of Decision Education in classrooms across the country.
For more information on this program or the Alliance’s mission to empower students through Decision Education, please visit our web page.
About the Alliance
The Alliance for Decision Education (the Alliance) is a national nonprofit and field builder with the mission of improving lives by empowering students with essential skills and dispositions for making better decisions. The Alliance was co-founded by best-selling author, speaker, and consultant in decision-making, Annie Duke, Ph.D., and is backed by experts in decision sciences and a broad range of other fields—including several Nobel laureates. We believe that better decisions lead to better lives and a better society.
As a field builder, the Alliance aligns, coordinates, and amplifies the efforts of organizations and individuals working toward the vision of Decision Education being part of every student’s learning experience. We partner with teachers, researchers, academic and business leaders, families, and community members to raise awareness and develop solutions that can be scaled in classrooms across the country.
For more information about the Alliance for Decision Education, please visit our website at AllianceForDecisionEducation.org, or follow us on X, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
###
Media Contact
Duane Brozek
Public Relations Senior Manager
duane@alliancefordecisioneducation.org
951.288.9807
