Grant Opportunity: A College & Career Decision-Making Incubator for High Schools

Who We Are:

The Alliance for Decision Education ("The Alliance") is a non-profit education organization leading the growing call to have decision-making skills, or Decision Education, taught in K-12 schools across the country. Our work is backed by a growing number of educators, parents, researchers, and industry leaders who have seen Decision Education improve students' lives and the lives of those around them. Our mission is to improve lives by empowering students with essential decision skills.

A College and Career Decision-Making Incubator for High Schools

In high schools all across the country, students struggle with the life-altering decision about what to do after graduation. Our focus at the Alliance is to equip every student with the skills and dispositions that will enable them to clearly evaluate options, assess their values, avoid thinking pitfalls, and tap into other essential skills that will enable them to make the best decisions for themselves and their futures.

The Incubator is both a grant and a collaborative learning opportunity for high schools who have an interest in implementing Decision Education with their students. The goal of the Incubator is for school teams to design projects that have a positive impact on the way students make decisions about life after graduation.

The Opportunity

Selected school teams join the Incubator for 18 months— during which time, they'll take part in professional development, receive support to design and develop a project and implement with students. Over the course of 18 months, schools receive:

• $30K in flexible funding to support all aspects of the school project
• 15-20 days of coaching support from the Alliance
• Access to asynchronous Intro to Decision Education online course for educators
• Networking and collaboration opportunities with other schools in the Incubator
• Support and guidance from the Alliance to assess the success and impact of the project
• Opportunities for media coverage including school highlights, as well as teacher and student stories and case studies

Requirements

Schools are required to:

• Designate a team of 3-5 people, made up of at least one school administrator, and a combination of college and/or guidance counselors and teachers to lead the work.
• Agree to have each team member participate in professional learning about Decision Education and meet with the Alliance coach throughout the duration of the grant.
• Be committed, as a team, to design and implement a year-long project that will teach students key decision-making skills.
• Be committed to documenting your team's learning process, as well as the student experience, to share with other Incubator schools and the Alliance.

Project Ideas

The Alliance will work with each team to help develop a project based on the school’s needs, goals, and community context. Some examples of Incubator projects might include:

• Developing a new course, elective, or initiative for 10th or 11th grade students
• Revamping an existing advisory or subject-area course, elective, or initiative
• Integrating Decision Education concepts and skills into an existing advisory course, elective, or initiative
• Other types of student programming and ideas are welcomed and encouraged

Team Applications

In our inaugural year, we seek to support teams from a small and diverse set of high schools. We invite applications from public, parochial, and independent schools from across the country.

The application is to be completed by a designee from your school on the team's behalf and consists of three steps:
Step 1: Review the application questions and prepare your team's answers.

Step 2: Complete the budget proposal by making a copy of this template.

Step 3: Complete the online application, attaching your budget proposal as a PDF.  Note: the application must be completed in one sitting.

Applications will be accepted through October 7, 2022.  
For questions, please contact Abby Sheffer at abby@alliancefordecisioneducation.org.

*This grant is not an employment opportunity with the Alliance for Decision Education.

*This grant is for U.S.-based schools and teams only.