Glendale Community College is developing a partnership with Arizona State University West who will begin delivering the upper division education courses for the BA in Elementary Education degree on the Glendale campus beginning in the fall 2001. A similar agreement is underway with the main ASU campus and South Mountain Community College. It is clear, that there is definite need for a voice for community colleges. Community colleges with teacher education programs need a common ground, a place to gather and share information and a common voice. In California, there are currently thirty-three such programs, in one stage or another of development, with more to follow.
Programs also exist or are under consideration in Florida, Illinois, Ohio and Virginia.
No doubt there are others, but currently there is no way to know for certain. There is no conference or convention at which they come together. Indeed, when those involved in these programs attend national conferences on teacher preparation, they usually find no programs devoted to their needs. At one recent national teacher education conference, the director of a community college program found herself to be the only person from a community college in attendance. Even though all of this is going on in community colleges around the country, those at the state and national levels who make and influence policy, who provide budget money, who award grant money from both public and private sources, are often uninformed.