Collaboration and partnership: Within and between disciplines, programs, and institutions

Abstract

The key questions in this group focused on two basic issues: (a) Is collaboration important?, and (b) Why is it important to developmental education? A primary assumption is generally held that collaboration is a positive framework for educators. This standpoint has also been applied to research, teaching, and practice in developmental education. Within the next ten years, the issue of creating partnerships and coalitions is projected to increase as a primary educational and social agenda, specifically as national demographics have changed and as our society requires an increasingly educated, expanded, and specialized work force (Carnoy, 1997). It is within this changing social context that we must begin to consider the conditions and circumstances in which collaboration will be important for developmental educators.