A project was undertaken to develop and publish a national plan for marketing education at pre-baccalaureate levels. During the project, the author of the study reviewed literature pertaining to the past, present, and future of business, marketing education, marketing, and vocational education. In addition, he conducted telephone conversations and personal interviews with educators and business persons regarding the future of pre-baccalaureate marketing education. The author concluded that the present image of marketing and distributive education has been shaped by various factors, including the early retail and sales training, as spearheaded by Lucinda Prince; early federal legislation requiring enrollees in distributive education programs to be employed part-time; and leadership provided by regional agents and program specialists in the Office of Education. According to the Marketing Education Association's mission statement for the 1980s, marketing education should be directed toward developing competent workers for marketing occupations, for improving the techniques of marketing, and for building understanding of the responsibilities that accompany the right to engage in marketing businesses in a free-enterprise system. Based on these findings, the researcher formulated seven major recommendations pertaining to the development of an overall conceptual framework for marketing education that would serve as the basis for a national plan for marketing and distributive education. (MN)