Instructional Model
Enhancing College Visits with Decision Education
Grade Level: 10th – 12th
Length: 3 Lesson Plans
About the Instructional Model
This instructional model is an easy entry point to implementing Decision Education to support the college application and decision process. High school juniors and seniors are guided to reflect critically on college campus visits through the use of pre- and post-visit surveys and the use of decision-making tools like a Weight and Rate. Students can use their responses to compare visits to support their college application and decision process, reflecting on how college visits may have impacted their thinking and helped to clarify their values.
Students participate in lessons on Decision Education concepts (clarifying values, expected value) and apply tools (weight and rate, premortem) to support their college application and selection process. They complete pre- and post-surveys to guide their thinking and support reflection on and across college visits.
The lessons and surveys included in this model engage students by teaching them how to think – not what to think – about what they want and need in a future college.
Students explore all four domains of Decision Education, including:
Structuring Decisions
Building students’ agency by embracing decisions as opportunities, clarifying their values, generating and researching different options.
Thinking Probabilistically
Evaluating their chances of acceptance and costs of attending; weighing options and evaluating possible outcomes.
Recognizing and Resisting Cognitive Biases
Understanding how bias may show up in preconceptions of a college and throughout the admissions process.
Valuing and Applying Rationality
Making decisions that align with their goals and values; demonstrating self-awareness and self-direction.
Implementation
This model can be implemented through individual or group college counseling sessions, in advisory or a seminar course.
There are four components to plan for:
- Three introductory Decision Education lessons
- College campus visits
- Completion of pre- and post-visit surveys
- Built-in time for student reflection through discussion and use of decision-making tools
This model can be used on its own or integrated with our other College and Career instructional models.
Resources
Lesson plans:
Student tools:
College Visit Surveys: Click on the links below to make a copy of each survey to share with your students.
- Pre-visit:
- Post-visit:
Weight and Rate tools: Click on the links below to make a copy of each tool to share with your students.
- Step-by-Step Template: Students complete one step at a time to generate a weight and rate table
- One Page Template: Students complete all steps in one table
Recommended resource: https://collegechoice.decisionacademy.org/
School Impact
This instructional model was designed by a team at Lincoln College Preparatory Academy, a public magnet high school in Kansas City, MO. As a Title 1 school serving a diverse student body, the team wanted to ensure their students were set up for success in the college application process.
Lincoln’s College Advisor Kathie Mahan led over 170 students on a total of 12 college visits, providing a QR code for students to complete the pre- and post-visit surveys on the bus rides to and from each college.
The team’s primary suggestion for schools implementing this model is to set aside time for students to reflect on their surveys individually and collaboratively to help students process their learning from each visit. This will support students as they compare multiple colleges and help them to apply new insight from each visit to their decision-making process when it is time to choose a college to attend.
The lesson plans and student tools have been updated based on feedback from students and teachers at Lincoln Prep.
Key Stats
- Nearly three out of every four students said the reflection tool helped clarify their college values.
- Two out of every three students updated their likelihood of applying to colleges based on visit reflections.
