Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What are the National Content Standards for Entrepreneurship Education?

Entrepreneurship education is a lifelong learning process, starting as early as elementary school and progressing through all levels of education, including adult education. The Standards and their supporting Performance Indicators are a framework for teachers to use in building appropriate objectives, learning activities, and assessments for their target audience. Using this framework, students will have: progressively more challenging educational activities; experiences that will enable them to develop the insight needed to discover and create entrepreneurial opportunities; and the expertise to successfully start and manage their own businesses to take advantage of these opportunities.

How were the Standards developed?

In addition to an extensive literature review, the standards were developed through a series of focus groups with entrepreneurs.We asked them "what they do as an entrepreneur, and what they need to know how to do to become an entrepreneur."

How are the Standards organized?

The standards are divided into three major sections:

Entrepreneurial Skills
The unique traits, behaviors and processes that differentiate an entrepreneur from an employee or manager.

Ready Skills
The business, or entrepreneurial, knowledge and skills that are prerequisites or co-requisites for the study of entrepreneurship.

Business Functions
The business activities performed in starting and running a business.

How can the Standards be used?

The Standards are designed to describe the entire field of entrepreneurship as a lifelong learning process with many purposes including:

• As a FRAMEWORK for many levels of curriculum development - in elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and adult education programs.
• As a guide for measuring KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS gained from entrepreneurial activities.
• As a vehicle for acquisition and application of CORE ACADEMIC SKILLS.
• Both as a CONTEXT FOR LEARNING and as SUBJECT MATTER for CURRICULUM.

How can I apply the Standards and all the Performance Indicators in my course or program?

The Standards are not designed to be delivered in a single course or program. Similar to English, computer skills, and other fundamental subjects, entrepreneurial skills are part of a lifelong learning journey. They must be repeatedly applied and practiced to develop expertise.

The good news is that entrepreneurial skills can be applied in nearly any context - whether math, science, marketing, or career technology. And by doing so, the learner continues to move a step closer to realizing the entrepreneurial traits and behaviors needed for success in business, career, and in life.

How is the entrepreneurial process described by entrepreneurs?

Entrepreneurs believe that becoming an entrepreneur and then acting on this trait (or desire) is a series of non-linear processes that take place over time. Certain stages of the process require a specific skillset, while other stages require a merging of several seemingly unrelated skills. Often, an entrepreneur may be considering new business opportunities while still working on an existing venture.

The entrepreneurs in our study helped us define the entrepreneurial process as applicable to new ventures and ongoing ventures that create, drive, and change economic activity - meaning new markets, new products, and new businesses. These non-sequential, often overlapping, stages are: Discovery, Concept Development , Resourcing, Actualization, and Harvesting.

Entrepreneurship education is not simply dreaming about the possibilities of being an entrepreneur. It involves testing the reality of the dream and constantly learning from experiences. Curriculum designed around the five entrepreneurial processes, as defined by their Standards and Performance Indicators, should provide those experiences by simulating the challenges and options faced by the entrepreneur.

Students should not just learn ABOUT entrepreneurship, they should EXPERIENCE it as part of the instructional process. Curriculum at any stage of the lifelong learning model for entrepreneurship education may focus on any or all elements of the entrepreneurial process.

How can we obtain assistance in training our members to use the Standards?

The Consortium is preparing a group of "Ambassadors" to be able to help diverse groups at all levels of the lifelong learning model to use the Standards as a foundation for developing curriculum. We will be happy to provide conference presentations and more in-depth workshops as needed. To obtain assistance from a Consortium Ambassador please contact the Executive Director, Cathy Ashmore at cashmore@entre-ed.org or by phone 614-486-6538.

How can we share the success stories and experiences we have in using the Standards?

We are anxious to hear about the results each of you may be having because of the availability of the Standards. We hope that this new framework will help each entrepreneurship program in finding support systems, improving their content, and working effectively with educators at all levels of the lifelong learning model. We would like to hear what administrators, parents, other teachers, local business people, and the students have to say.