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DeckerUSA Videos & Resources

Brenda Lynch, New Caney ISD

Dr Robert Wimpelberg, All Kids Alliance

Our Legacy

Over the past 40 years, Decker & Associates has guided thousands of families, through financial education, to become financially independent.

We noticed economic changes in the US. The American Dream has evolved to the American Opportunity – each person has an opportunity to become financially secure and independent and has an opportunity to fail. With this realization, we believe all young adults need to gain this understanding at the erliest age possible for them to accept responsibility for their future and take action to create that future.

In 2004, D&A began the Real Life curriculum and created the Game of Real Life. The Game has educated 1,200 underserved students on high school, University of Houston and Rice University campuses.  Game graduates achieve significant life changing outcomes. In research study, 98% went to college and 91.7% graduated from college in 6 years, as compared to Texas’ results of 73% of high school grads attending college and 28% graduating.

D&A’s mission is to replicate these results in Texas public school. To do this, teachers must learn to implement a thinking financial curriculum based on students setting major goals while in high school, especially a goal for financial independence and students understanding the plan they must excecute to achieve their goals. These videos tell the Game story and our mission.

“We Want Real Life Financial Math!”

Nibal Markus, “What Do You Want?”

ABC 13 Game of Real Life

Fox 26 Game of Real Life

Game of Real Life Summer Course

2011 Game of Real Life Montage

Our Thought-Leader Library

Over the past 40 years, D&A leaders have attended hundreds of presentations and meetings, watched thousands of videos, and read thousands of research papers and articles about the present challenges to our economy and education. Because we are futurists, and we want to make the future amazing for everyone, we want to share with you some of the knowledge we have gained. We are optimists and realists and believe you want to think about the future and how you can make a difference. 

Here are our absolute favorites!

  • Sir Ken RobinsonChanging Educational Paradigms –  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATCqh-OjSuw – Why a thinking financial education is essential if we want to give value to other subjects. Why you should want to implement a Thinking Instructional Methodology and have students work in teams?
  • Dan PinkThe Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc – A different focus on financial independence. It isn’t about the money. It is about what is discussed in this video.
  • Sugata Mitra – New Experiments in Self-Teaching – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk60sYrU2RU&t=8s – Asking questions, the value of learning from each other, the grandmother method, how students learn through discussion and retention of information.
  • Joe RuhlTeaching Methods for Inspiring Students of the Future – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCFg9bcW7Bk –  The importance of a thinking and creativity. We have built fun, thinking, learning activities into Real Life courses as self-thinking (Engage), information gathering (Engage), working in teams and making presentations (Expand), and reflection sheets (Enrich) and why you want to be a guide on the side with two loves.
  • Dr Angella Duckworth – Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance – https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_perseverance – makes the case for why these skills, talents, attitudes could be more important in achieving success than is intelligence. All students in Real Life courses take a GRIT assessment so you and they can benchmark their progress.
  • Engines of Our IngenuityDoing Away with Math – Why we think Real Life Financial Math should be part of every student’s math curriculum.