Community College History

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  • Normal Schools

    Some community colleges have origins in Normal Schools. They were developed to provide professional development for those who wanted to teach. A few programs were the first to transfer credits to bachelor's degrees.

  • Joliet Junior College

    First established junior college in Illinois.

  • Small to start

    Most junior colleges, numbering less than 200, had less than a few hundred students enrolled each.

  • Phoenix Junior College

    Phoenix Union High School District established junior college in Arizona.

  • American Association of Junior Colleges Established

  • G.I. Bill

    Period of time marking the start of rapid growth spurred by soldirs coming home from the war with monies to afford an education.

  • Cooling Out

    First Coined in an article by Erving Goffman titled "Cooling the Mark Out: Some Aspects of Adaptation to Failure". the term was used to describe practices by universities and junior colleges to curb the high expectations of students who had bachelor's degree aspirations but were not academically equipped to attain the degree. Contrast to "Warming up" a practice where students are encouraged to aim for higher achievments.

  • Baby Boomers

    Starting in the early 1960's and continuing into the 70's, the baby boomers enrolled in great numbers to community colleges, some did this to dodge the draft for the Vietnam war.

  • Maricopa County Junior College District

    Phoenix Junior College was claimed under this new system and then established campuses in Glendale and Mesa which would be come independent by the end of the decade.

  • Maricopa Technical Established

    Later renamed Gateway Community College

  • Scottsdale Community College Established

  • Rio Salado Community College

  • South Mountain Community College

  • 2 Colleges established

    Northeast Valley Education Center (now Paradise Valley Community College)
    Chandler-Gilbert Education Center (now Chandler-Gilbert Community College)

  • Estrella Mountain Community College Established

  • American Association of Community Colleges name change

  • Glendale Community College established