National Standards of Practice for Entrepreneurial Education
The National Standards of Practice for Entrepreneurship Education are intended to provide encouragement and ideas to facilitate entrepreneurship education with the program structure to assure a consistent and high-quality result. These standards of practice have been likened to a recipe book for those who desire to establish effective entrepreneurial preparation programs for students.
The National Standards of Practice complement the National Content Standards for Entrepreneurship Education, which provide additional detail with individual performance indicators. The Content Standards are the extension of the recipe book as they have been likened to the ingredients for courses and programs. The 403 performance indicators in the National Content Standards allow program deliverers to connect with the essentials that practicing entrepreneurs indicate they must know and be able to do in order to have success as an entrepreneur. Focus groups of entrepreneurs from throughout America provided these performance indicators as essentials to include in entrepreneurial preparation courses/programs.
Jointly these National Standards of Practice and Content provide the guidance that individuals delivering programs need to ensure that the opportunities for students provide what the students need for success and also what the community stakeholders desire to assist in assuring a positive economic future.
Included in the Standards of Practice is a listing of program outcomes that have been documented through research from various member organizations of The Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education. These positive outcomes can be marketed with confidence as benefits to students at the various levels of education.
The National Standards of Practice focus on concepts that facilitate entrepreneurial thinking, methods for delivering Entrepreneurship Education, and accountability that encourages success. Specific guidance within each category are provided to guide those administrators and teachers delivering entrepreneurship education.
Persons desiring to review the National Standards of Practice with others may receive copies of them from the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education. You may e-mail the consortium from the website www.entre-ed.org to request copies of the brochures for use with others.
To aid in understanding the standards of practice and to assist users of the standards of practice there is posted on the website an Assessment Rubric to be used in conjunction with the National Standards of Practice which specifies some of the evidences of delivery of the standard of practice. Using this rubric will allow teachers, administrators, business partners to determine to what extent the Standards of Practice are met in the courses/program being offered. Using the rubric a gap analysis can be completed which allows all to see what evidences are lacking in relationship to the National Standards of Practice and then improvement strategies can be developed for assuring that the program leadership is focusing on those strategies essential to entrepreneurship education success. The rubric is on line at www.entre-ed.org for use by all who focus on improving entrepreneurial opportunities for students.
