Study: Entrepreneurship classes inspire students – Teaching entrepreneurship not only prepares kids for the business world, it also makes them better students.

That’s the conclusion of a Harvard University study of 312 high school students in Boston. The study found that students who take part in entrepreneurship programs read more on their own, become more interested in college and think more about whether they will be a success once they leave school.

Kent Hoover
Washington Bureau Chief

http://www.bizjournals.com/extraedge/washingtonbureau/archive/2004/02/09/bureau6.html

"Youth entrepreneurship education programs also serve to inspire leadership and confidence in students where such character traits may go unrecognized and underutilized," says the study’s lead author, Michael Nakkula, director of Harvard’s Project IF (Inventing the Future).

The study was conducted for the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, http://www.nfte.com/ whose programs trained 17,000 young people in 44 states and 16 countries last year.

Full report results: http://www.nfte.com/about/research/harvardresults.asp

Harvard Graduate School of Education Research

Currently, NFTE is participating in a multi-year longitudinal program evaluation study, led by Human Development and Psychology professor Dr. Michael Nakkula at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This national research effort will assess the relationship between students’ academic performance and their participation in NFTE programs and will provide valuable insights about the multiple kinds of academic and developmental impacts that NFTE can facilitate for students. Results of the first phase, carried out in Boston, have recently become available.

Summary of Past Research Findings

Notable past studies of NFTE programs with/conducted by Brandeis University (1993-1996) and the Koch Foundation (1998) have demonstrated that:

* Entrepreneurship can be taught.
The Brandeis/NFTE impact study administered an “entrepreneurship knowledge” pre/post test at 60 program sites in which 59 increased in average scores, 3 sites more than doubled their average scores, and another 10 sites increased their average scores by 60%. 97% of NFTE alumni surveyed by Koch Foundation researchers reported that NFTE improved their business skills and knowledge.

* NFTE positively influences students’ beliefs about their entrepreneurial potential and abilities.
Prior to the NFTE program, 20% of students surveyed by Brandeis researchers said that they believed they could start a profitable small business. After the NFTE program, 59% of students reported “yes I can”.

* NFTE has a direct impact on the business formation rates of youth entrepreneurs.
Brandeis researchers found that NFTE increases the number of young people who have ever run a business by 63 youth per 100 and that post NFTE 33% of students were still running their businesses. Koch Foundation researchers found that NFTE participation increased the likelihood of starting a business four-fold compared to a control group. In 2000, 19 of the 25 National Coalition for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s Youth Entrepreneur of the Year award winners were NFTE graduates.

NFTE’s Vision for Research and Evaluation

NFTE’s research and evaluation goals have continued to evolve as NFTE as an organization has grown and changed. Earlier research studies focused on business-related impacts of NFTE’s programs, such as entrepreneurial knowledge gain and business formation rates. Past research has already indicated that when NFTE is taught effectively, students demonstrate improvements in entrepreneurial understanding and activity. NFTE is now exploring new topics in youth entrepreneurship research and evaluation. Our research partnership with the Harvard Graduate School of Education will assess whether participation in NFTE programs predicts improvements in students’ academic performance and attitudes towards school. NFTE is also formulating plans to conduct research on the impacts of our NFTE University programs on participating teachers.