Real Estate Pre-License Education: A National Call for Reporting Transparency

Using 43,285 results for Alabama real estate license exams administered over 13 years, we explore the relationship between examinees' pass-fail rates and the sources of their pre-license education. The findings reveal professional school graduates fare better than their non-professional school counterparts. This suggests non-professional schools should work to either improve their approach to real estate exam pre-license education, or leave it entirely to those doing so for a living. Our findings provided the basis for the Alabama Real Estate Commission's adoption of multiple policy changes aimed at improving the quality of Alabama real estate pre-license education and the pass-fail rates of future Alabama real estate license examinees. We call on all U.S. licensing authorities to adopt transparent reporting standards for real estate license education, including, at a minimum, public disclosure of pass-fail rates for both license test examinees and pre-license education providers.