DECA has offered the school-based enterprise chapter gold certification program to recognize the outstanding achievement of DECA SBEs. DECA also offers the SBE Individual Certification program for individual DECA members. The SBE Individual Certification Exam is available from October 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025.
Through this program, members can achieve an SBE individual certification through the successful completion of an online exam. This is a great opportunity for DECA members to add an additional level of recognition for their mastery of small business management instructional areas.
What is the school-based enterprise individual certification?
- Online exam
- 100 multiple-choice questions
- 90-minute time limit
The exam tests competency in the following instructional areas:
- Financial Analysis
- Operations
- Marketing-Information Management
- Market Planning
- Product/Service Management
- Pricing
- Promotion
- Selling
- Human Resources Management
Students must score 70% or higher on the exam to receive individual certification
The specific performance indicators that will be assessed and sample exam questions can be found in the SBE Individual Exam Study Guide.
Who can take the individual certification exam?
The certification exam is ideal for DECA members who participate in operating a school-based enterprise, but it is not required. Any active DECA member may participate in the individual certification.
Why take the individual certification exam?
Students receive individual recognition – which is an incentive for strong business operations practices. Becoming certified as an individual serves as a resume and college application builder for students and shows mastery of small business management skills. Advisors will benefit from having their members certified as it will provide credibility for their school’s DECA program and school-based business, validate the efficacy of the curriculum and demonstrate their students have achieved mastery level in entrepreneurship skills and student understanding of real-world business operation concepts.
DECA advisors can register their students to take the certification exam here. The exam guidelines can be found here and exam instructions and frequently asked questions can be found here.
Detailed transcripts for each student are provided after completing the exam, with results broken down by instructional area so advisors can easily see areas of classroom instruction in need of improvement.
Recognition
Students receiving a score of 70% or higher on the exam will receive the following:
- Certificate of Individual Certification Status
- Feature on DECADirect.org (a recurring feature that recognizes newly certified students each month)
