An exploration of the requirements for certification in business education, testing requirements, and reciprocity in the fifty states

The purpose of this study was to make a comparison of the teacher certification requirements for secondary business education, the reciprocal certification process, and the competency-based testing requirements in the fifty states and the District of Columbia. The study also compares the business education programs of institutions having membership in the National Association for Business Teacher Education (NABTE).;Data concerning general and professional education requirements, competency-based testing, and reciprocity were gathered from the fifty states and the District of Columbia. Information concerning the type of teaching major (comprehensive or specialty), general education hours, professional education hours, subject major hours, and specialized subject methods hours was solicited from the 231 NABTE-member institutions.;Twenty-seven states require a specific number of semester credit hours of general education, professional education, and business education for certification; while nineteen states require graduation from an approved institution. Twenty-eight states require some form of competency-based testing with the NTE or PPST most frequently used. Twenty-eight states honor reciprocity. The Interstate Agreement on Qualification of Educational Personnel is most frequently used.;A majority of the NABTE-member institutions offer the comprehensive business education major. The requirements are similar in the three general areas of general education, professional education, and business education for the secondary business education programs in NABTE-member institutions. The use of pre-testing (entrance) and post-testing (exit) for the business education program by institutions is mixed.;It is recommended that study be conducted in the area of the responsibility for final authority for certification and the differences/similarities in the business education programs of the different approving agencies.