Our History
- Late 1960’s: Lucy Crawford (VA Tech) competency profile research
- 1971: Wayne Harrison (WI) conceived need for instruction based on competency profile and invited states to partner in development process.
- 1971 – 1975: Harrison and others re-envisioned DECA competitive event program to incorporate competency-based, multi-point assessments
- 1971 – 1973: Consortium concept developed as Interstate Distributive Education Curriculum Consortium (IDECC); Harrison served as “executive director” and took leave-of-absence from WI DPI to build concept. 11 states pooled resources to develop concept.
- 1971-1975: States built instructional materials for each of some 983 competencies from Crawford study. Materials were teacher-developed, typically in local summer workshops.
- 1975: IDECC relocated to The Ohio State University with support of Cathy Ashmore who was operating an Ohio-based curriculum center based at the university. IDECC was incorporated as an Ohio-based not-for-profit (501(c)(3) organization. Seven states were active members of the “new” consortium.
- 1975-76: Larry Casterline was employed as first full-time executive director. With grant funding from Feds, first staff were employed (5 graduate research associates working on doctorates in CTE).
- 1977: Jim Gleason hired and charged with updating and upgrading the original instructional materials and for nationwide implementation of competency-based curricula.
- 1979: Beth Osteen and Mary Carlisi joined the team
- 1979: First new-look, professionally written LAP module released
- 1980: “Directions” conference resulted in name change from “Distributive Education” to “Marketing Education” to reflect a more contemporary focus.
- 1983: First “Model Program” training focused on competency-based course development and mastery learning.
- 1984: National Curriculum Conference by IDECC
- 1984: Name change to Marketing Education Resource Center (MarkED)
- 1986: First Conclave convened in St. Louis with 99 attendees
- 1987: First release of national standards for marketing education
- 2000: National standards revised with changes to curriculum and early work to broaden scope of research to include all business functions
- 2001: Developed the marketing cluster for the National Career Clusters Initiative
- 2005: Developed revised, research-based content for three Career Clusters (marketing, business management and administration, and finance) for State Directors’ Career Clusters Initiative
- 2006: Released new business administration curriculum framework and standards to better address research findings (Business Administration core introduced.)
- 2007: High School of Business program begins, offering all resources schools need to adopt an accelerated business administration program of study using project-based learning pedagogy.
- 2009: Changed name to Marketing & Business Administration Research and Curriculum Center (MBA Research) to better reflect breadth of research findings, curriculum initiatives, and more comprehensive program support for all business administration programs.
- 2013: Introduced membership upgrade options to improve ROI for vested states.
- 2017: MBA Leadership Forum established to support development of local/state leaders
- 2018: Brenda Clark becomes third full-time CEO since inception of the organization.
- 2019: Brenda Clark passes away after battle with cancer.
- 2019: Rick Mangini named Interim President/CEO.
- 2020: Holly Atha named President/CEO.