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As artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly reshapes how work gets done, educators are being forced to rethink what students need to succeed after graduation. New research from the Burning Glass Institute and the AI Education Project shows that generative AI is reshaping the skills students need in the workforce, placing greater emphasis on human capabilities such as judgment and reasoning.
In other words, while technology can generate information and automate tasks, people still need to evaluate options, weigh tradeoffs, and determine what to do next. These are decision-making skills–and demand for them is rising.
Recent research underscores just how central and measurable those skills have become. The report, “Decision Skills in the Workforce,” produced by the Burning Glass Institute in collaboration with the Alliance for Decision Education, analyzed millions of U.S. job postings and found that 41 percent explicitly reference decision-making skills. In technical fields such as computer and mathematical occupations, that number rises to 68 percent.
These aren’t just “nice to haves” for employers; they’re willing to pay for them. That same report found that jobs requiring strong decision-making abilities often come with wage premiums of up to 23 percent.
The message from the labor market is clear: Workers who can evaluate information, navigate uncertainty, and determine the best path forward are increasingly valuable.
For schools focused on career readiness, this raises a pressing question: How do we teach students how to make better decisions?
The ability to make sound decisions is often treated as something students naturally develop over time. But decades of research in decision science make clear that decision-making can be taught and improved through learning and practice.
In the workplace, decision-making drives daily work. Workers must assess uncertain information, compare options, anticipate outcomes, and determine what to do next. These responsibilities appear in every sector–from healthcare and construction to technology and public service.
As Dr. Mardy Leathers, executive vice president at Adaptive Construction Solutions, emphasizes in the report:
“Decision-making skills are at the heart of every career journey. When education and workforce programs integrate these skills into local delivery, students and job seekers gain the practical tools they need to make informed choices, seize opportunities, and build lasting economic mobility.”
Career readiness is not just about mastering technical skills. It is also about developing the judgment and thinking habits that enable students to adapt, evaluate new information, and make sound decisions throughout their lives.
Decision Education offers a practical, research-backed framework for helping students develop stronger judgment and decision-making skills. Simply put, it teaches students how to think, not what to think.
Drawing on research from psychology, economics, and behavioral science, Decision Education helps students develop essential skills and dispositions for making better decisions throughout their lives. Students learn to think probabilistically, recognize and resist cognitive biases, practice metacognition and active open-mindedness, and structure decisions.
These skills and dispositions can be integrated across subjects–and many educators are already doing this often without calling it Decision Education.
Across the country, teachers participating in initiatives such as the Decision Education Incubator are experimenting with ways to embed decision-making lessons into existing courses, from social studies discussions about historical choices to math activities involving forecasting and probability.
In a middle school classroom, for instance, students might analyze a complex, real-world question: Should a city invest in building a new public park or expanding transportation options? Working in groups, students evaluate data, consider possible outcomes, and structure their reasoning before recommending a decision.
Through activities like this, students practice weighing evidence, anticipating uncertainty, and explaining their reasoning.
Experiences like these help students see that decision-making is not guesswork or instinct. It is a process, but one they can learn and refine.
The urgency around career readiness has intensified as technology reshapes the labor market, seemingly daily.
AI systems can summarize documents, generate content, and assist with analysis. But they still cannot determine goals, values, or priorities. They also frequently produce inaccurate information and tend to reinforce the user’s assumptions.
This means human judgment matters more than ever in an AI-enabled world.
At the same time, students themselves are navigating high-stakes, increasingly complex decisions: choosing postsecondary pathways, evaluating career opportunities in emerging industries, and interpreting vast amounts of online information.
Helping students develop decision-making skills and dispositions equips them to approach those choices with greater clarity.
Career readiness frameworks often prioritize technical training or industry credentials. While those are important, they represent only part of what students need.
Decision-making skills provide a durable, transferable foundation that applies across professions and throughout life.
Whether students pursue college or enter the workforce directly, they’ll likely change careers multiple times, and continue to face new decisions and new uncertainties.
Preparing students for those moments must be part of every school’s mission.
By integrating Decision Education into core subject areas across grade levels, schools can empower students with the essential human skills to navigate uncertainty and shape their futures.
These are not just academic skills.
They are life skills.
That’s why career readiness starts with decision-making.
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