2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog Business Education Program - Department of Marketing

The Honors Program seeks to facilitate customized learning for Honors students in their disciplines by offering the opportunity for students to engage in Honors education and to have Honors Learning Experiences in upper division courses. Learn more about Honors in the Major.

Major in Business Education

The Business Education program focuses on developing business, marketing, and computer educators/trainers through the pursuit of Illinois State University’s conceptual framework for teacher education: Realizing the Democratic Ideal. This program prepares graduates for teaching positions and business positions across a broad base of business disciplines.

Students should note that:

• Majors must meet the academic, admission, and transfer requirements of the College of Business. Refer to the Structure of Business Programs section of the Undergraduate Catalog. Non-majors must have the prerequisites, including the specified number of hours, to enroll in Business Education.
• At least 60 hours of credit toward the bachelor’s degree must be taken outside the College of Business and in subject areas other than business.
• Students shall plan programs in consultation with an advisor.

Business Education includes:

• A study of the concepts and properties in modern business environments, including accounting, business law, information processing, educational technologies, quantitative analysis, management, marketing, and finance;
• The development of cognitive, psychomotor, and affective skills in the content areas listed related to the use of tools, materials, processes, resources, technologies, principles, and products as well as their impact on society; and
• The professional competencies of planning, implementing, and evaluating instruction and training. 

Standards for Progress in the Major

Majors must earn and maintain a 2.50 GPA for Admission to Professional Studies (see the University-Wide Teacher Education program requirements section of this Undergraduate Catalog for further information). Business Education majors must have a minimum GPA of 2.50 in the major and at ISU in order to be eligible to student teach.

For the Business Teacher Education sequence, minimum Pre-Clinical Experiences totaling 100 clock hours shall be completed prior to student teaching. Several BE and COE courses include required clinical hours. Clinical Experiences in Teacher Education

The Business Teacher Education sequence is a performance-based program (PBA). In the PBA system, students pass three Milestones. In addition to regular coursework and campus-wide teacher education performance assessments, Business Teacher Education students complete interviews, essays, check sheets, attend college colloquial, and prepare a summative program portfolio, edTPA. All teacher education candidates must pass edTPA as required by the State of Illinois. University-Wide Teacher Education Requirements

Students desiring the cooperative career and technical education credentials are required to complete BE 480 and BE 482 and complete 2,000 hours of non-teaching work experience in business.

Students in the Business Education major must complete one of the following sequences.

Business Teacher Education Sequence

The sequence embraces the ISU conceptual framework by addressing standards from Illinois Professional Teaching Standards, Illinois Business, Marketing, and Computer Education Content Standards, Illinois Core Language Arts Standards, Illinois Core Special Education Standards for all teachers and Core Technology Standards for teachers. These standards were established by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), Council for Accreditation of Education Preparation (CAEP), International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), and the National Association of Business Teacher Education (NABTE).

The Business Teacher Education program is part of the entitlement programming leading to the K-12 Specialist in Business, Marketing, and Computer Education endorsement. Initial employment opportunities include elementary, middle level and junior high level business and computer instruction/technology coordination; high school business, marketing, and computer teacher/coordinator, school/district computer teacher, business/industry trainer/instructor, and business professional. Graduates will be prepared to teach basic business, introduction to business, accounting, record keeping, business law, information processing, keyboarding, computer applications, consumer economics, personal finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, business communications, digital/multimedia, and web design.

Student teaching comprises a full semester experience with approximately six weeks in an elementary and/or middle level setting (5 credit hours) and approximately ten weeks in a secondary level setting (7 credit hours). Prior to student teaching, students complete at least 100 pre-clinical hours of field experience with a minimum of 30 hours in an elementary/middle school level setting and 70 hours in a secondary setting.

Optional Business Computer Programming Specialization (9 hours): Students receive 6 hours of programming through required Business Education courses. Students are recommended to complete BE 365 as the third course. Students may also select ACC 266, TEC 243.

View Business Teacher Education Sequence Course Requirements

Training and Development Sequence (Non-teaching Licensure Program)

Majors must earn and maintain a 2.50 GPA for Admission to Professional Studies.

University-Wide Teacher Education Requirements 
Clinical Experiences in Teacher Education

The sequence embraces the ISU conceptual framework by addressing standards from Illinois Professional Teaching Standards, Illinois Business, Marketing, and Computer Education Content Standards, Illinois Core Language Arts Standards, Illinois Core Special Education Standards for all teachers and Core Technology Standards for teachers. These standards were established by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), Council for Accreditation of Education Preparation (CAEP), International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), and the National Association of Business Teacher Education (NABTE).

Graduates will be prepared to work as a business/industry trainer/instructor, and business professional.

View Training and Development Sequence Course Requirements