Instructional Model

Enhancing College Counseling with Decision Education

Grade Level: 11-12

Length: Five Counseling Modules

About the Instructional Model

Through this series of five counseling modules, high school students develop agency as they clarify their values and define their goals for life after graduation. Each module includes prompts for an engaging class discussion, follow-up student tasks, and recommended resources.

With both counselor-led and student-driven components, this model is easy to adapt to your school’s counseling program and enables students to take the lead in college and career exploration and decision-making.

Through the five modules in this model, students explore key Decision Education concepts, including:

Self-Awareness

Students build awareness of their individual strengths and interests.

Self-Direction

Students develop a sense of agency in their planning and preparation.

Framing Decisions

Students learn to ask questions that support them in making a decision about the future.

Generating Options

Students broaden their views by exploring different pathways and possibilities.

Implementation

This model can be implemented through college counseling sessions, in advisory, or as part of a seminar course. There are three components to plan for:

  • Student reflection through group discussion and use of decision-making tools.
  • Student tasks, which can be assigned as independent research or embedded into coursework.
  • Group discussions and student tasks can lead to meaningful individual counseling sessions, where students can discuss their strengths, interests, and goals, and ultimately develop a clear plan for life after high school.

This model can be used on its own or integrated with our other College and Career instructional models.

Resources

Enhancing College Counseling with Decision Education: Counseling Modules

Grade level: 11-12 | Length: 5 Modules

School Impact

This instructional model was designed and implemented by Tiffany Scott and her team at Church Farm School in Exton, PA, an independent boarding and day school for boys in grades 9-12. Church Farm School serves a diverse student population with 96 percent of students of color and 90 percent receiving financial aid.

Tiffany designed this model to empower students with self-awareness and self-direction as they plan for the future. As a small school community, they took advantage of biweekly grade level meetings to integrate in Decision Education topics. In addition to the modules shared above, the team included multiple opportunities for students to visit college campuses and to engage families during the college application process.

The modules have been updated based on feedback from Church Farm School students and staff.

Key Stats

After participating in this model, 100 percent of students agreed with the following statements:

  • I am prepared to make decisions for my future.
  • I have a clear vision for my future.
  • I am optimistic about my future.
  • My current efforts can impact my future positively.

Student quotes

I believe that taking time to reflect on the decisions you make and how they will impact you would play a major role in how you plan for the future/make decisions in the future, as it helps you to get a full perspective on both the positives and negatives of a choice, leading you towards choosing something that will more benefit you.

11th Grader, Church Farm School

The decisions made now will eventually catch up to me in the future so understanding the cause and effect is important. This thought-process can apply to anything like school, financially and also socially.

12th Grader, Church Farm School

I learned to consider all the options and ways that the decision could affect me or my future. I can certainly apply this to making my college or career decision as those have big impacts on my future and need to be thought about fully.

11th Grader, Church Farm School

Understanding where I want to be in life, and what I am willing to do to get there. This will help me in knowing what I need to do and put things into smaller digestible steps, even making “sub-goals” along the way.

12th Grader, Church Farm School

Knowing about how to make objective decisions before making decisions based on emotion is one of the most important ways of making the right one. I know that this will positively affect me because I will not make a decision I immediately regret just because I acted off of how I felt.

11th Grader, Church Farm School

The Alliance for Decision Education would like to extend our thanks to Tiffany Scott and Church Farm School for their efforts in designing and implementing this instructional model.

Additionally, the Alliance thanks Teacher Fellow Tiffany White for sharing her insight and expertise to contribute to this model.