For certain employment positions, the amount of education that the person has received in their chosen field may be even more important that the amount of experience the individual has. For these types of employment positions, an education background check is generally needed before the person can be hired for the job. A background check for teacher positions is the most common, with education verification for business professionals running a distant second.

An education background check verifies the person's information about their education, including which schools were attended, which classes were taken, and what their grade point average was as a student. If the applicant has tried to falsify their educational background, the education background check will generally uncover the truth. The background check will also reveal whether the applicant holds the professional licenses that they claim to have earned.

In many cases, the information for the education background check can be obtained from the schools that the applicant has claimed to have attended over the years. These schools will provide the applicant's information after they receive notification that the background check has been authorized by the applicant. For most of the companies that require an education background check before hiring an employee, falsification of education history or exaggerating the amount of education that was received in any given field are grounds for the immediate rejection of the employment application.