Business Management and Marketing Pathway Guide

At a glance

This guide covers a high school business management and marketing pathway in Michigan, Virginia, North Carolina, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Hawaii. It sets out the rules that differ by state. The how-to for staffing, partnerships, approvals, facilities, curriculum and scheduling sits in six implementation toolkits, linked in the launch steps at the end.

What the pathway leads to

No state among the seven licenses business managers, marketers or retail supervisors, and no second agency approves the program. Employers hire on skills, experience and degrees. What students can earn in high school is industry credentials (Microsoft Office Specialist, Intuit QuickBooks, NRF RISE Up retail credentials, A*S*K business exams, Meta and Adobe marketing credentials) and, in most states, an academic credit in personal finance or economics. After high school, students go to work in retail, sales and office roles, or continue to a two- or four-year business degree. Management and market research jobs usually require a bachelor’s degree and experience.

The decisions you face

1. Whether the pathway carries the personal finance or economics credit. This is the largest lever and the rules differ the most. Michigan, Missouri and Hawaii let a CTE course carry the credit; Virginia’s required course is itself a CTE course; Arizona allows embedded economics credit only for two programs; Pennsylvania and North Carolina require a separate course.
2. Which state program and code to use. Each state splits business, marketing and finance differently, and two states renamed their clusters for 2026-27.
3. Which credentials to fund. Each state’s list differs. Arizona’s 2026-27 list omits Entrepreneurship and Small Business (ESB) and IC3.
4. Who teaches it. Most business teachers hold a standard academic license in business or marketing education. Industry routes exist as backups.
5. How students work while enrolled. Retail and office co-ops are mostly an hours question, plus limits on driving, balers and compactors, and selling alcohol at the register.

Where the states differ most

Items are labeled Confirmed, Confirm with the agency, or Changing. Last checked October 5, 2026.

Jobs and pay

Market research and marketing jobs are projected to grow in all seven states, fastest in Arizona and Virginia, which are above the national rate. Retail supervisor jobs are projected to shrink in six of the seven states (Arizona is the exception), though turnover keeps openings high, and they are the jobs a high school graduate can reach first.

Market research jobs are projected to grow fastest in Arizona and Virginia

Projected change in market research analyst and marketing specialist jobs (SOC 13-1161), 2024 to 2034

Show the numbers

State	Projected change, 2024 to 2034
Arizona	+15.3%
Virginia	+12.3%
North Carolina	+8.0%
Pennsylvania	+6.0%
Missouri	+5.9%
Hawaii	+4.3%
Michigan	+2.9%
United States	+6.7%

Market research analysts and marketing specialists (SOC 13-1161)

General and operations managers (SOC 11-1021)

First-line supervisors of retail sales workers (SOC 41-1011)

Wages are from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics state file, May 2025. Jobs, openings and projected change are from state long-term projections via Projections Central, 2024-2034. Projected change for general and operations managers runs from 1.5% (Michigan) to 14.5% (Arizona), against 4.4% nationally. For retail supervisors it runs from a decline of 8.7% (Michigan) to growth of 6.0% (Arizona), against a national decline of 5.0%.

Credentials students can earn

Business and marketing have no state license, so industry credentials and a strong transcript are what students carry forward. None of the credentials below has a minimum age.

DECA, FBLA and BPA competitive events are not credentials on any state list. AP Business with Personal Finance, an AP Career Kickstart course, launches in fall 2026.

What each state counts

In Arizona, build the program on MOS, QuickBooks, RISE Up, Meta, PMI or Adobe; ESB and IC3 no longer count there.

Working with minors

Retail and office co-op placements are mostly an hours question. Three task limits also reach retail work: driving, balers and compactors, and selling alcohol at the register. For the full federal and state rules, a task-by-task decision path and a student-learner agreement template, see Working with Minors in CTE Pathways.

Federal rules

State rules

Employer policies may set a higher age than state law. Name the store’s alcohol and baler policy in the training agreement before a student starts, and keep under-18 cashiers off alcohol sales in Virginia and Pennsylvania until the age is confirmed.

Who can teach

Most business and marketing teachers hold a standard academic license in business or marketing education. Industry routes exist in every state as a backup. Virginia is the only state found that requires an industry certification for a new business teacher. The Staffing toolkit covers recruiting, pay and alternatives.

Teachers for the personal finance course

Who may teach the personal finance or economics course matters when the pathway carries that credit.

• Virginia: Economics and Personal Finance may be taught with an endorsement in agricultural education, business and information technology, family and consumer sciences, history and social science, marketing or mathematics. An Economics and Personal Finance add-on endorsement (8VAC20-543-279) took effect February 11, 2026, for any licensed teacher who shows competency in the course standards. (Confirmed)
• Pennsylvania: certificates that qualify for the required personal finance course are CSPG 30 (Agriculture), 33 (Business, Computer and Information Technology), 35 (Citizenship Education), 44 (Family and Consumer Sciences), 49 (Marketing/Distributive Education), 50 (Mathematics) and 59 (Social Studies). (Confirmed)
• North Carolina: Economics and Personal Finance teachers must complete NCCEE professional development. Whether a business or marketing CTE license qualifies a teacher for the course was not found. (Confirm with the agency: DPI Licensure and Social Studies)
• Missouri: DESE does not name who may teach personal finance. (Confirm with the agency)

Instructor certifications worth funding

A teacher who holds the credentials students test for (MOS, QuickBooks Certified User, A*S*K) is ready to prepare students for those exams. In Virginia, an industry certification is required for initial licensure in this endorsement, so budget for it when you hire a new teacher.

Program, curriculum and lab

A business or marketing program needs state CTE program approval like any other pathway. No second agency approves it. Many high schools already teach business and marketing as electives outside an approved program; those courses earn no state CTE funding and their credentials are not reported. The Approvals toolkit lists each state’s process and deadlines.

Program codes by state

The lab

A business and marketing program needs a computer lab with current office, accounting and design software, and a Certiport Authorized Testing Center if students test on site. Many programs add a school store as a school-based enterprise. In Hawaii, Tax Facts 99-4 (April 2025) exempts public schools and school-sponsored student groups from general excise tax on fundraiser income run through the school’s non-appropriated fund account, so a school store run through that account is covered (see the Entrepreneurship guide). Sales by a student-owned venture fall outside that exemption. Confirmed. Last checked Oct. 4, 2026.

Curriculum

Use your state’s course standards and add the credential curriculum (Certiport, NRF RISE Up, A*S*K). The Curriculum toolkit has a review rubric. Michigan posts a 52.0299 Academic Alignment workbook on its business cluster page.

For student-run ventures, school stores and the legal side of running a real business, see the companion Entrepreneurship Pathway Guide.

Work-based learning

• Missouri: three co-op models: Supervised Business Experience, Supervised Marketing Employment and Cooperative Career Education, each with an end-of-year evaluation. (Confirmed)
• Virginia: Education for Employment II-Preparation (9080) requires high-quality work-based learning and caps class size at an average of 15 and a maximum of 18. (Confirmed)
• Pennsylvania: cooperative education needs a certified co-op coordinator, a training agreement and a training plan. (Confirmed)

Student organizations

No state was found that requires students to join. Missouri’s program application asks for a student organization plan.

Credit after high school

Academic credit

Every state among the seven requires personal finance or economics for graduation, and whether a business course can carry that credit is the biggest design choice in this pathway. Credit decisions are local; the state sets what counts.

Missouri’s graduation handbook also names two local options for academic credit through CTE: waiving one academic unit after a three-unit program of study, and substituting an LEA-approved CTE course for one core unit. Confirm with DESE before you use either.

In Michigan, map your course to the six personal finance standards before you award the credit. Where your program’s alignment does not show which standards it covers, use the S4IS CTE Crosswalk prototype (Product A) as interim guidance.

College admission effects

• Michigan: using personal finance in place of world language can leave a student short of the world language that many universities expect. Use the fourth math or arts option for students headed to a four-year university, or confirm the university’s requirement first.
• Arizona: the Arizona Board of Regents lists economics as a social science and counts one year of CTE toward its fine arts or CTE requirement. Whether the universities accept CTE-embedded economics as the social science credit was not confirmed. (Confirm with the agency: ABOR) Until it is, advise university-bound students to check with the university.
• Missouri: substituting a CTE course for a core academic unit can affect the college-preparatory core that universities review. Check the university’s core before you approve a substitution.
• Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Hawaii: the business course does not replace a core academic course, so admission risk is low. In North Carolina and Pennsylvania the personal finance course stays separate from the pathway.

No state was found that lets accounting count as a math credit statewide. North Carolina’s Business Management I earns no math credit.

Launch steps

Work through these steps in order; several can run at the same time. The launch guide links all six toolkits.

Review status and sources

Last checked October 5, 2026. An independent check on October 5, 2026 tested 12 claims against official sources and corrected 1. These items are open for reviewers:

1. Virginia (VDOE Office of CTE). The Board-approved credential list for business courses, including MOS; course numbers for Business Management and Accounting; Marketing Education endorsement requirements.
2. Virginia (Virginia ABC). The minimum age for cashiers selling beer or wine for off-premises consumption.
3. Pennsylvania (PLCB). The minimum age for cashiers selling beer or wine to go.
4. Pennsylvania (PDE Bureau of CTE). How the Act 35 personal finance course applies to students who spend half-days at a CTC; whether any 52.0201 program exists.
5. North Carolina (DPI Licensure and Social Studies). Whether a business or marketing CTE license qualifies a teacher for Economics and Personal Finance; current license area codes; CIP codes for the 2026-27 clusters.
6. Missouri (DESE and the Missouri House). Final status of SB 1778; who may teach personal finance; CIP and MOSIS codes; work-experience hours for business certificates; the two local CTE credit options.
7. Michigan (MDE OCTE and LEO). Credentials accepted in CTEIS for 52.0299 and 52.1999; expiration dates of the other statewide agreements (Mott’s expires November 1, 2026, confirmed Oct. 5, 2026; renewal still open); endorsement codes for 52.1999; whether balers fall under the state bar on paper products machinery.
8. Hawaii (HIDOE and DOTAX). A credential list for business and marketing; the official financial literacy memo or Board policy; dual credit agreements; general excise tax on sales run outside the school’s non-appropriated fund account.
9. Arizona (ADE and ABOR). The business CTE certificate area name; any Business Operations economics crosswalk; whether the universities accept embedded economics as the social science credit.
10. A*S*K (MBA Research or NOCTI). Proctoring rules and current price.

Sources

Jobs and pay

• BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (state file), and Projections Central state long-term projections, 2024-2034

Credentials

• Certiport, ESB overview and test candidate policy
• A*S*K Institute and Fundamental Marketing Concepts
• CTE Resource Center, A*S*K Fundamental Marketing Concepts
• NC CTE credentials by cluster
• ADE 2026-27 credential list
• PDE industry-recognized credentials
• DESE IRC new system guidance
• College Board AP Career Kickstart

Working with minors

• 29 CFR 570.35 and 29 CFR 570.63 (HO 12)
• MCL 436.1707 and MCL 409.118
• A.R.S. 4-244
• G.S. 95-25.5 and G.S. 18B-302
• RSMo 311.300
• HRS 281-78
• 3VAC5-50-50
• PLCB, minors on the licensed premises
• MLCC Enforcement FAQ

Instructors

• MDE CIP program endorsements for CTE instruction
• 8VAC20-23-230 and 8VAC20-543-279
• R7-2-612
• PDE Personal Finance
• HTSB NBI 24-24

Programs and student organizations

• MDE Cluster and CIP list, December 2025 and MDE Business Management and Administration cluster
• MDE state-recognized CTSOs by CIP
• CTE Resource Center, Business Management, Digital and Social Media Marketing and Education for Employment II-Preparation
• NC CTE, Office Administration and Business Management I
• ADE Business and Marketing Education
• PDE CTE teacher resources and 52.1801 secondary school partners
• DESE Business, Marketing and IT Education
• HIDOE CTE pathways and program standards

Academic credit

• MDE Michigan Merit Curriculum, personal finance
• 8VAC20-132-51 and CTE Resource Center, Economics and Personal Finance
• G.S. 115C-81.65, S.L. 2019-82 and NCSBE bulletin, April 2024
• A.R.S. 15-701.01, ADE Business Management economics crosswalk, Marketing economics crosswalk and ADE embedded academic credit
• Act 35 of 2023 and PDE SAS, Personal Finance
• DESE graduation requirements, 5 CSR 20-100.190, DESE Social Studies and Personal Finance, HCS HBs 2303 and 2867 summary and SB 1778
• Big Island Now, January 14, 2026 and Hawaii News Now, January 10, 2026
• Mott Community College Business, Marketing and Accounting statewide agreement