"Education, Faculty of"@en . "Educational Studies (EDST), Department of"@en . "DSpace"@en . "UBCV"@en . "Dickinson, James Gary"@en . "2011-09-29T20:31:20Z"@en . "1966"@en . "Master of Arts - MA"@en . "University of British Columbia"@en . "The problem of retention in public adult night school programs appears to be related to the socio-economic characteristics of participants and to the length and nature of the courses in which they enroll. Three hypotheses arising from this problem were tested in this study of participation patterns. The first of these stated that there are no statistically significant differences in certain socio-economic characteristics of participants who are enrolled in courses of different types or lengths. The second hypothesis tested was that there are no statistically significant differences in certain socio-economic characteristics between those participants who persist in attendance and those who drop out in the total program or in courses of different types and lengths. The third hypothesis stated that there are no significant differences in attendance patterns between the three types of courses or between courses of different lengths.\r\nThe data used in this study were derived from 2,075 registration cards and ninety-eight completed attendance registers. Distributions for nine socio-economic characteristics of participants and dropouts were tested for statistically significant differences by chi square, and attendance patterns for courses of different types and lengths were compared using the critical ratio procedure.\r\nFour of the socio-economic characteristics of participants showed statistically significant differences at the .01 level in the distributions by course type and length while five did not. The significant characteristics included sex, age, marital status, and occupation. Thus in regard to these four characteristics, the Surrey program enrolled a different clientele for the three types of courses. Academic course participants tended to be young, single males in clerical, labourer, and transportation-communication occupational groups. General course registrants were the oldest group and consisted mainly of housewives. Vocational course participants occupied the median position between academic and general in each of the four significant characteristics.\r\nTwenty-eight percent of the registrants in the Surrey program were classified as dropouts. Three of the socio-economic characteristics tested showed statistically significant differences between persistent attenders and dropouts in the analysis by course type. These significant characteristics included age, marital status, and occupation. None of the characteristics tested were statistically significant at the .01 level in the distributions by course length. The highest number of dropouts occurred for young unmarried enrollees in academic courses while the lowest number occurred for housewives and those in the older age groups in general courses.\r\nAn inconsistent downward trend was noted in average daily attendance for all courses. From a peak ADA of eighty-seven percent at the second session the attendance declined to thirty-eight percent at the forty-fifth session for a total loss of forty-nine percent. Short courses in the genera] interest category tended to maintain attendance at a higher level than did long courses in the academic and vocational categories."@en . "https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/37680?expand=metadata"@en . "PATTERNS OF PARTICIPATION IN A PUBLIC ADULT NIGHT SCHOOL PROGRAM . by JAMES GARY DICKINSON B. Ed . , University of Bri t ish Columbia, 1963 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Faculty of Education (Adult Education) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA AUGUST, 1966 In presenting t h i s thesis i n p a r t i a l f u l f i l m e n t of the requirements f o r an advanced degree at the University of B r i t i s h Columbia,, I agree that the Library s h a l l make i t f r e e l y available for reference and study, I further agree that permission., for extensive copying of t h i s thesis for scholarly purposes may 'be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. I t i s understood that copying or publication of t h i s thesis for f i n a n c i a l gain s h a l l not be allowed without my written permission. Department Q f ^ ^ A A J L t ^ ^ A J ^ A ^ X ^ ^ The U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia Vancouver 8, Canada ABSTRACT The problem of retention in public adult night school pro-grams appears to be related to the socio-economic characteristics of participants and to the length and nature of the courses in which they enro l l . Three hypotheses arising from this problem were tested in this study of participation patterns. The f i r s t of these stated that there are no s ta t is t i ca l l y signif icant differences in certain socio-economic characteristics of participants who are enrolled in courses of different types or lengths. The second hypothesis tested was that there are no s ta t i s t i ca l l y signif icant differences in certain socio-economic charac-ter is t ics between those participants who persist in attendance and those who drop out in the total program or in courses of different types and lengths. The third hypothesis stated that there are no s i g -nif icant differences in attendance patterns between the three types of courses or between courses of different lengths. The data used in this study were derived from 2,075 registra-tion cards and ninety-eight completed attendance registers. Distribu-tions for nine socio-economic characteristics of participants and drop-outs were tested for s ta t i s t i ca l l y signif icant differences by chi square, and attendance patterns for courses of different types and lengths were compared using the c r i t i ca l ratio procedure. Four of the socio-economic characteristics of participants showed s ta t is t i ca l l y signif icant differences at the .01 level in the d is -i i ! tributions by course type and length while five did not. The signif icant characteristics included sex, age,, marital status, and occupation. Thus in regard to these four character ist ics, the Surrey program enrolled a different cl ientele for the three types of courses. Academic course par-ticipants tended to be young, single males in c l e r i c a l , labourer, and transportation-communication occupational groups. General course regis-trants were the oldest group and consisted mainly of housewives. Vo-cational course participants occupied the median position between academic and general in each of the four signif icant characterist ics. Twenty-eight percent of the registrants in the Surrey program were c lass i f ied as dropouts. Three of the socio-economic characteristics tested showed s ta t i s t i ca l l y signif icant differences between persistent attenders and dropouts in the analysis by course type. These signif icant characteristics included age, marital status, and occupation. None of the characteristics tested were s ta t i s t i ca l l y signif icant at the .01 level in the distributions by course length. The highest number of dropouts occurred for young unmarried enrol lees in academic courses while the low-est number occurred for housewives and those in the older age groups in general courses. An inconsistent downward trend was noted in average daily at-tendance for a l l courses. From a peak ADA of eighty-seven percent at the second session the attendance declined to thirty-eight percent at the for ty - f i f th session for a total loss of forty-nine percent. Short courses in the genera] interest category tended to maintain attendance at a higher level than did long courses in the academic and vocational categories. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I.I INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the Problem 2 Hypotheses 3 Limitations k Definition of Terms k II.1 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE . . . 6 Studies of Participants 7 Studies of Dropouts 13 Studies of Attendance Patterns 16 III.' PLAN OF THE STUDY 19 Procedure 19 The Area 26 IV.' CHARACTERISTICS OF PARTICIPANTS 30 Socio-Economic Characteristics of Participants by Course Type 30 Socio-Economic Characteristics of Participants by Course Length 51 Non-Responses 53 Summary 5^ V CHAPTER PAGE V.! CHARACTERISTICS OF DROPOUTS 55 Socio-Economic Characteristics of Dropouts by Course Type and Course Length 56 Summary 81 VI.I ATTENDANCE PATTERNS 83 Attendance Patterns by Course Length 83 Attendance Patterns by Course Type 88 Summary , 9 9 VII.' SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 101 Summary 101 Conclusions 1 06 BIBLIOGRAPHY U5tf APPENDIX \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 112-LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE I.1 Factors Studied to Test the Relationship to Dropout.. 15 II.i Distribution of Courses and Participants by Type and Length 22 III.1 Estimated Adult Population by Age, Surrey and White Rock, 1966 27 IV. Registrations in the Surrey and White Rock Adult Education Program,1962-63 to 1965-66 29 V. Sex Distribution of Participants by Course Category.. 31 VI.1 Age Distribution of Participants by Course Category.. 33 VI I.i Marital Status of Participants by Course Category. . . . 36 VI U J Distribution of Participants by Number of Children by Course Category 38 IX. Distribution of Participants by Years of School Completed by Course Category kO X.i Occupational Distribution of Participants by Course Category . . ^3 XI.1 Distribution of Participants by Years Resident in the Distr ict by Course Category 46 XI I.I Distribution of Participants by Previous Attendance at Adult Education Courses Within the Last Three Years by Course Category 48 XIII.1 Distribution of Participants by Travel Time to Class by Course Category 50 XlV.i Chi Square Values and Contingency Coefficients for Participant Characteristics by Course Length 52 XV.! Non-Responses to Registration Card Items 53 TABLE PAGE XVI.i Sex Distribution of Dropouts by Course Category and Course Length 58 XVII.1 Age Distribution of Dropouts by Course Category and Course Length 61 XVI I I .i Marital Status of Dropouts by Course Category and Course Length 63 XIX.I Distribution of Dropouts by Number of Children by Course Category and Course Length . . . 65 XX.1 Distribution of Dropouts by Years of School Completed by Course Category and Course Length 68 XXI. Occupational Distribution of Dropouts by Course Category and Course Length 71 XXI I.\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Distribution of Dropouts by Number of Years Resident in the Distr ict by Course Category and Course Length 7^ XXIII.1 Distribution of Dropouts by Previous Attendance at Adult Education Courses by Course Category and Course Length 77 XXI V.I Distribution of Dropouts by Travel Time to Class by Course Category and Course Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 XXV. Cr i t ica l Ratios for Average Daily Attendance Per-centages by Course Length 85 XXVI. Distribution of Length of Courses by Course Type . . . . 90 XXVI 1 .'I Comparison of Average Daily Attendance Percentages between Academic and Vocational Courses 91 XXVI I I.1 Comparison of Average Daily Attendance Percentages between Academic and General Courses 32 XXIX.< Comparison of Average Daily Attendance Percentages between Vocational and General Courses 93 XXX.< Average Daily Attendance Percentages by Session and Course Type 95 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1. Attendance by Session and Course Type Chapter One INTRODUCTION The u t i l i t y of an adult education agency is determined by the willingness of the adult population to engage voluntarily in its act iv -i t i es . Thus, the in i t ia l enrollment and the maintenance of attendance over a period of time are major concerns of adult educators. Participation in adult education has been studied at national, loca l , and institutional levels. Despite the many studies, Brunner' noted four reasons why it is s t i l l d i f f i c u l t to make even a rough de-scription of \"who part icipates: \" (l) the many agencies engaged in adult education; (2) the diversity of their programs and c l iente le ; (3) the E. de S. Brunner, et. a l . , An Overview of Adult Education Research, (Chicago: Adult Education Association, 1959) p. 90. 2 episodic nature of adult part icipat ion; and (4) the lack of any con-sistent policy of record keeping among the many agencies and institutions in the f i e l d . A description of participant characteristics has been the principal content of most studies dealing with participation in adult education. Once adults become engaged in an adult education ac t iv i ty , however, persistence and discontinuance of attendance become the chief concerns of the adult educator. Some adults will continue in their programs and see them through to completion, while others will drop out at some point. In their review of research on completions and dropouts, 2 Verner and Davis noted that there had been l i t t l e and generally in-adequate research related to this particular aspect of the f i e l d . While it is apparent that the two aspects of part icipat ion, in i t ia l enrollment and continuance of attendance, are v i ta l ly important, it is equally apparent that there has not been enough research in these areas to guide intel1 igent 1y the actions of adult educators in planning and conducting adult education a c t i v i t i e s . I STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The problem of retention in public adult night school programs Coolie Verner and G. S. Davis ,Jr . , \"Completions and Drop Outs: A Review of Research,\" Adult Education, 1 4 : 173 (Spring, 1 9 6 4 ) . 3 appears to be related to the socio-economic characteristics of pa r t i c i -pants and to the length and nature of the courses in which they enro l l . The present study of participation patterns will consist of three main kinds of analysis: f i r s t , the analysis will compare certain socio-economic characteristics of adult students enrolled in academic, vo-cational , and general interest courses; second, these socio-economic characteristics will be used to determine whether or not there are signif icant differences between those students who persisted and those who dropped out, both in the total program and in the three course categories; th i rd, attendance patterns in different categories of courses and in the total program will be analyzed and compared. I I HYPOTHESES Three hypotheses wil l be tested in this study. 1. There are no s ta t i s t i ca l l y signif icant differences in certain specified socio-economic characteristics of participants who are enrolled in academic, vocational, or general courses, or in courses of different lengths. 2. There are no s ta t i s t i ca l l y signif icant differences in certain socio-economic characteristics between those participants who persist in attendance and whose who drop out in the total program, in academic, vocational, or general courses, or in courses of different 1engths. 3. There are no s ta t i s t i ca l l y signif icant differences in attendance patterns between academic, vocational, or general courses, or between courses of different lengths. Ill LIMITATIONS The study is limited to those adult courses which began in the autumn of 1 9 6 5 - Although special programs such as public lectures and film series are occasionally sponsored by the night school, the participation patterns in this segment of the adult education program will not be included. The characteristics studied are those which can be measured objectively. The discovery of objective factors that may or may not differentiate between persistent attenders and dropouts would constitute a basis for a deeper exploration of subjective factors, however, such factors are not studied here. IV DEFINITION OF TERMS There is no general agreement in the l iterature regarding the use of terms such as \"dropout\" and \"participant.\" Terms that will be used extensively throughout the study are, therefore, defined below. Participation in adult education is usually measured by en-rollment f igures. In the present context, a part i ci pant is an adult who registers for a course by completing a registration card. A participant is termed a dropout if he does not attend the final two sessions of the course in which he registered. The d is t r i c t refers to School Distr ict Number 36, Distr ict of Surrey and City of White Rock in Brit ish Columbia. A course consists of three or more related sessions. An academic course is a course offered for credit toward a Grade Ten cer t i f ica te , a Grade Twelve cer t i f ica te , or Senior Matriculation. A vocational course is offered as preparation for or upgrading in an occupation. A general course is aimed at increasing knowledge,ski11, or understanding for the adult as a c i t i zen , parent, homemaker, or hobby is t . See Append i x A. Chapter Two REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE There have been three main attempts at reviewing and syn-thesizing the literature relevant to participation patterns. In 1958 Verner and Newberry' reviewed the literature on participation and de-rived some generalizations from participation studies concerned with adult education c l iente le . A further attempt to bring some order to 2 participation research was made by Brunrier in 1959. Drawing from New-3 berry's ear l ier work, Brunner c lass i f ied the different approaches to the problem of participation in adult education and stated a number of Coolie Verner and John S. Newberry, J r . , \"The Nature of Adult Part ic ipat ion,\" Adult Education, 8:208-222 (Summer, 1958). 2 Brunner, op_. c i t . , Chapter 6. 3 John S. Newberry, J r . , \"Participation and Adult Education,\" un-published research review, Florida State University, 1958. 4 generalizations'. Verner and Davis reviewed attendance studies in 1 9 6 4 , c r i t i c i z i n g the unsystematic nature of research in the area and suggesting some directions for future research. . Findings from these reviews will be drawn into the present review where appropriate. I STUDIES OF PARTICIPANTS While most studies of participants in adult education have been concerned with speci f ic agencies or communities, some recent attention has been paid at the national level to participation in adult education. In an American study, Johnstone and Rivera^ found two factors that distinguished between participants and non-participants in adult education; age and amount of formal schooling. The average participant in adult education was more than six years younger than the average American adult; nearly eighty percent of the participants were under f i f t y years of age, while only four percent were over seventy. Twenty-nine percent of the participants were in their twenties. The average level of formal schooling was found to be higher among participants than non=participants, and of three indicators of socio-economic posit ion-\" education, occupation, and income\u00E2\u0080\u0094^formal schooling was found to have 4 Verner and Davis, op_. c i t . , pp. 1 5 7 - 1 7 6 . ^ J . W. C. Johnstone and R. J . Rivera, Volunteers for Learning, (Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company, 1 9 6 5 ) , pp. 6 - 7 -by far the most powerful influence on rates of part icipat ion. A less rigorous national survey was made in Canada by the Dominion Bureau of Stat is t ics .^ This estimated that 426,340 Canadians had taken at least one adult education course conducted by a school system, university, or l ibrary during the nine month period preceding the survey. The \"typical\" participant was described as being male, married, and about thirty-one years of age. He had completed secondary schooling, worked in a c l e r i c a l , communications, commercial, f inancia l , or service occupation and he enrolled in a vocational course offered by a public night school. Both of these national surveys present data in percentages, with no attempts at indicating s ta t i s t i ca l l y signif icant findings. The Canadian study fa i l s to define what is included under \"adult education,\" so it cannot be compared to the American study di rect ly . There has been a multitude of studies reporting on the characteristics of participants in adult education programs in local communities and insti tut ions. No two studies, however, report on the same l i s t of characterist ics, and supposedly common factors such as age, educational level , and occupation are reported under many different c lass i f icat ion schemes. To i l lustrate the confusion that exists , five ^ Ibid., p. 7. ^ Dominion Bureau of S ta t is t ics , Participants in Further Education in Canada, (Ottawa: Queen's Printer, 1963)-of the s t u d i e s reviewed each used d i f f e r e n t groupings to repor t on the g ages of p a r t i c i p a n t s : Johnstone and R i v e r a , the Dominion Bureau of 9 10 11 12 S t a t i s t i c s , M iz ruch i and V a n a r i a , Chapman, and Dav i s . . The on ly c h a r a c t e r i s t i c that is repor ted w i th some degree of cons is tency is 1 3 sex , but Chapman noted that 1.8 percent of the responses to h is ques t -ionna i re f a i l e d to i nd i ca te even t h i s seemingly ev iden t c h a r a c t e r i s t i c . Thus the g rea tes t need in p a r t i c i p a t i o n research is f o r some degree of s t a n d a r d i z a t i o n in the c o l l e c t i o n of da ta . One conc lus ion that has emerged from p a r t i c i p a t i o n research is that each agency o f f e r i n g an adu l t educat ion program tends to a t t r a c t 14 a d i s t i n c t and separate c l i e n t e l e . For t h i s reason, the g e n e r a l i z a t i o n s advanced below r e l a t i n g to soc io-economic c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f p a r t i c i p a n t s w i l l be drawn main ly from s t u d i e s o f p u b l i c school adu l t educat ion c l i e n t e l e . Johnstone and R i v e r a , OJD. c i t . q Dominion Bureau of S t a t i s t i c s , o_p_. c i t . ^ E. H. M iz ruch i and L. M. V a n a r i a , \"Who P a r t i c i p a t e s in Adu l t Educa t i on?\" A d u l t Educa t i on , 10:141-143 (Sp r i ng , I960). ' ' Char les E. Chapman, \"Some C h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of Adu l t Par t -T ime S tuden t s , \" Adu l t Educa t i on , 10:27-41 (Autumn, 1959). 12 James A. Dav is , A Study of Pa r t i c ipants in the Great Books Program, (Fund f o r Adu l t Educa t ion , I960) . 13 Chapman, op_. c i t . , p. 32. 14 Brunner, 0\u00C2\u00A3. c i t . , p. 92. Age In a study d e s c r i b i n g the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of a sample of p u b l i c school adu l t educat ion p a r t i c i p a n t s in a small c i t y in upstate New York, M iz ruch i and V a n a r i a ' \" ' found that 14 percent were under 30 years of age, 31 percent were between 31 and 40 , 21 percent were between 41 and 50, 15 percent were between 51 and 60, and 16 percent were over 61 . In a study of p a r t i c i p a n t s in the Contra Costa County, C a l i f o r n i a , p u b l i c school adu l t educat ion program, Chapman'^ repor ted that 17 percent were under 26 and 16 .5 percent were over 45 . These s tud ies tend to support the g e n e r a l i z a t i o n that p u b l i c school a d u l t educa t ion programs a t t r a c t p r o p o r t i o n a t e l y more younger adu l t s and p r o p o r t i o n a t e l y fewer o l d e r a d u l t s than there are in the s p e c i f i c popu la t i on s e r v e d . ' ^ Sex 18 19 20 Johnstone and R i v e r a , Chapman, and Miz ruch i and Vanar ia a l l found that p a r t i c i p a n t s in p u b l i c school adu l t educat ion programs c o n s i s t e d of approx imate ly 35 percent men and 65 percent women. M iz ruch i and V a n a r i a , 0\u00C2\u00A3. c i t . , p. l 4 l . 16 . Chapman, op_. c i t . , p. 32. ^ Verner and Newberry, op_. c i t . , p. 216. 1 8 Johnstone and R i v e r a , ojs. c i t . , p. 84. 1 9 Chapman, op_. c i t . , p. 32. 20 M iz ruch i and V a n a r i a , op_. c i t . , p. 143. 1.1 Formal E d u c a t i o n D e s p i t e the v a r i e d ways o f t r e a t i n g d a t a on e d u c a t i o n a l l e v e l , i t a p p e a r s t h a t the most s i g n i f i c a n t f a c t o r i n a d u l t e d u c a t i o n p a r -t i c i p a t i o n i s t he amount o f p r e v i o u s f o rma l e d u c a t i o n . J o h n s t o n e and 21 22 23 R i v e r a , V e r n e r and N e w b e r r y , and B runne r a l l c o n c l u d e d t h a t the h i g h e r t he amount o f p r e v i o u s s c h o o l i n g , the more l i k e l i h o o d o f a p e r s o n p a r t i c i p a t i n g in f u r t h e r e d u c a t i o n a l a c t i v i t i e s . V e r n e r and 24 Newber ry n o t e d , ' howeve r , t h a t a s i g n i f i c a n t l y l a r g e r p e r c e n t a g e o f p e o p l e w i t h l e s s than a h i g h s c h o o l e d u c a t i o n were s e r v e d by t he p u b l i c s c h o o l s t h a n . b y o t h e r t y p e s o f u rban p r o g r a m s . Occupa t i on G e n e r a l i z a t i o n s abou t the r e l a t i o n s h i p between o c c u p a t i o n and p a r t i c i p a t i o n in a d u l t e d u c a t i o n a r e made d i f f i c u l t by the l a c k o f a g e n e r a l l y a c c e p t e d scheme f o r c l a s s i f y i n g o c c u p a t i o n s . M i z r u c h i and 25 V a n a r i a r e p o r t e d t h a t 40 p e r c e n t o f the p a r t i c i p a n t s in t h e i r s t u d y J o h n s t o n e and R i v e r a , op_. c i t . , p. 7 . V e r n e r and N e w b e r r y , op_. c i t . p. 2 1 8 . B r u n n e r , op_. c i t . , p. 9 6 . V e r n e r and N e w b e r r y , _op_. c i t . , p. 216 . M i z r u c h i and V a n a r i a , p_p_. c i t . , p . 142 12 could be c lass i f ied under \"lower occupational groups.\" Chapman stated that among the participants in the Contra Costa County program, 10.5 percent were craftsmen and foremen, 51 percent were homemakers, and 9.5 percent were professional workers. In Campbell, Cal i fornia , 27 Siddoway and Stanley found that 53.2 percent of the participants in the public school adult education program were housewives. 28 Brunner concluded that there is a \"high relationship\" between occupation and participation in adult education, but public school programs generally include a broad range of occupational groups. 29 Verner and Newberry concluded that white-collar workers, housewives, and professional people tend to participate more in public school pro-grams than their proportionate representation in the population as a whole. It would appear, then, that the largest occupational group represented in the present study should be housewives. Variations in 30 other occupational groups, as Newberry noted, would be part ia l ly 26 Chapman, op_. c i t . , p. J>h. 27 W. R. Siddoway and E. P. Stanley, \"Know Your Cl ientele,\" Adult Education, vol . 9 (Spring, 1959), p. 156. 28 Brunner, op_. c i t . , p. 96. 29 Verner and Newberry, op_. c i t . , p. 216. 30 Newberry, op_. c i t . , p. 9. attributable to differences in the population composition of the d is t r ic t being studied. Other Factors The four factors discussed above\u00E2\u0080\u0094age, sex, formal education, and occupation\u00E2\u0080\u0094have been the most widely studied characteristics of participants in public school adult education programs. On the basis of less extensive evidence, a few other generalizations have been made 31 in the l i terature. Houle suggested that participation is related to length of residence in the community, and that married people participate 32 more than single people. Newberry concluded that there was some evidence to indicate that accessib i l i ty and proximity to centers for adult education increases part icipat ion. Other factors that will be considered in the present study have not been suf f ic ient ly investigated to warrant further generalizations. I I STUDIES OF DROPOUTS The l i terature on participants deals mainly with the socio-economic characteristics of those who enroll in adult education programs. 31 C. 0 . Houle, The Inquiring Mind, (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1 9 6 1 ) , p. 6 . 32 Newberry, op. c i t . , p. 2k. 14 Once in i t ia l participation has been secured, however, the adult educator becomes concerned with the continuation of part icipation. This concern 33 was f i r s t expressed by Thomas Pole, who urged in 1814 that absentees from adult schools be v is i ted , and that the v is i ts \" . . . a re to be re-peated until it is ascertained whether the learners visited are to be continued as such on the books, or merit dismissal from the same.\" 34 Verner and Davis reviewed the l iterature on persistence and discontinuance of attendance, and located thirty studies that attempted to differentiate between persistent attenders and dropouts. They d is -covered that twenty-six different factors had been tested, with no con-clusive results. Generalizations were hindered because of a lack of consistency in the type of data collected and in its treatment. Another hindrance was the lack of rigorous stat is t ica l procedures; of the thirty studies located, twenty-three did not provide any evidence of having tested the val idi ty of the data presented. Furthermore, there was no unanimity among the thirty studies in identifying dropouts. Of the factors considered by Verner and Davis, level of education, prior experience in adult education, marital status, and type of course a l l appeared to be related to discontinuance. A re-8 lationship has not been established, however, with the other factors 33 Thomas Pole, A Hi story of the Origin and Progress of Adult Schools, (Br is to l : C. McDowall, 1816, second edit ion) , p. 125 . 34 Verner and Davis, op_. c i t . , pp. 1 5 7 - 1 7 6 . shown i n Table I. TABLE I FACTORS STUDIED TO TEST THE RELATIONSHIP TO DROP OUT. Factor Number of Studies Report ing Some Reiat ionsh ip No Relationship Total Age 6 5 11 Sex 3 3 6 Level of education 8 2 10 Prior experience in adult educat ion 5 1 6 Marital status 4 0 4 Dependents 2 1 3 Occupat ion 3 4 7 Length of course 2 2 4 Tuition charged 2 1 3 Type of course 5 0 5 Total 4o 19 59 Source: Verner and Davis, 0\u00C2\u00A3. c i t . , pp. 174-\u00E2\u0080\u00A2175. Even in the four factors that have shown a relationship to discontinuance, however, the relationship is by no means clearly and def ini tely established. Of the four studies that examined the factor of marital status, for example, two showed that married students while 35 two showed that unmarried students dropped out more frequently. Thus, while it appears from research that there are differences in measurable characteristics between those who persist and those who discontinue attendance, the nature and extent of the differences needs further re-search. Ill STUDIES OF ATTENDANCE PATTERNS Several investigators have noted a relationship between subject 36 matter area and attendance. Verner and Davis concluded that subject matter appears to affect attendance, but so many different c l a s s i f i c a -tion schemes had been used that the results were almost meaningless. 37 Pattyson used a c lassi f icat ion scheme consisting of twelve types of courses and found s ta t is t i ca l l y signif icant differences in average daily attendance for certain groups of courses. 3 5 ' b i d . , p. 165 . 36 Verner and Davis, op_. c i t . , p. 169 . 37 J . W. Pattyson, \"The Influence of Certain Factors on Attendance in Public School Adult Education Programs,\" Unpublished Ed. D. dissertat ion, Florida State University, 196.1. o Q Grace S. Wright found a \"moderate amount of variation\" in the holding power of commonly found subjects in public school adult education programs. Wright used eight groups of courses and compared the median percentage of attendance between various groups and subgroups. The c lassi f icat ion scheme that is commonly used in public night school programs in Brit ish Columbia divides courses into three 39 areas; academic, vocational, and general interest courses. This differentiat ion is essential ly a functional one; academic courses serve those who wish to complete their high school programs and receive cer-t i f i ca tes , vocational courses serve those who wish to advance themselves in their present occupations or to train for new ones, while general interest courses serve mainly those who wish to improve their competence in speci f ic interest areas. ko These three course categories were used by Verner and Neylan in studying attendance patterns in a public adult night school program in Brit ish Columbia. An irregular but persistent decline in attendance was discovered. Differences in mean percentage of attendance were Grace S. Wright, \"Persistence of Attendance in Adult Education Classes,\" United States Office of Education, Circular No.353, October, 1952, p. 1. 39 See,, for example, the advertising l iterature of the Surrey adult education program. An examination of other programs throughout the province reveals a similar c lassi f icat ion scheme. ko Coolie Verner and M. S. Neylan, \"Patterns of Attendance in Adult Night School Courses,\" unpublished manuscript, University of Bri t ish Columbia, 1965-s ta t i s t i ca l l y signif icant at the .01 level for a l l comparisons of course categories except vocational to general. Differences in the pattern of attendance were also found to be s ta t i s t i ca l l y signif icant for different lengths of courses. Academic courses had the highest dropout rate, f i f ty- three percent, followed by vocational courses with forty-f ive percent dropouts and general courses with twenty-nine percent dropouts. Chapter Three PLAN OF THE STUDY The public adult night school program of the Surrey School Distr ict is influenced by the nature of the d i s t r i c t ' s population and by the material and human resources available to the program. This chapter will f i r s t outline the procedure used in this study for analyzing participation patterns and then describe the nature of the d is t r ic t and the development of adult education in the d i s t r i c t . 1 PROCEDURE Sources of Data Two sources of data were used in this study of participation patterns; registration cards and attendance registers. Each participant was asked to complete a McBee Keysort registration card for each course in which he wished to register. There were 2,075 registration cards collected by the night school administrator. These cards were sorted to analyze the characteristics of participants and dropouts. Attendance registers were maintained by course instructors and used to identify dropouts and chart attendance patterns. Ninety-eight completed registers were available for the study. Three additional registers were only par t ia l ly completed, but dropouts could be identified from these. Participant Data Information was collected from participants on nine socio-economic character ist ics; sex, age, marital status, number of children, years of school completed, occupation, years resident in the d i s t r i c t , previous attendance at other adult education courses within the last three years, and travel time to c lass. Categories used to c lassi fy participants by age were compatible with those used by the census. The census c lass i f icat ion of occupations was used for coding participants' responses to the occupation item on the registration card with two additional categories to include housewives and no occupation. Course Data Type The Surrey public adult night school operated three main types of courses in the autumn of 1965. Academic courses consisted of those offered for credit in the Brit ish Columbia school system such as English 40 , Mathematics 30, and H i s to r y 101. Vocat iona l courses inc luded such sub jec ts as Weld ing , T y p e w r i t i n g , B l uep r i n t Reading, and P r i n c i p l e s o f Automotive Tuneup. General i n t e r e s t courses covered a wide range of sub jec ts such as Yoga, C rea t i ve W r i t i n g , Chinese Cook ing, P u b l i c Speaking and G i f t Wrapping. When these courses were grouped by type, 19 courses or 16.9 percent were academic, 31 courses or 27.7 percent were v o c a t i o n a l , and 62 courses or 55 .4 percent were general i n t e r e s t . The r e g i s t r a t i o n cards f o r the 2,075 p a r t i c i p a n t s were grouped by course type f o r purposes o f a n a l y s i s and 302 r e g i s t r a n t s or 14.5 percent were e n r o l l e d in academic c o u r s e s , 531 or 25.6 percent in voca t i ona l cou rses , and 1242 or 59.9 percent were in general i n t e r e s t cou rses . (Table l.l) TABLE I I DISTRIBUTION OF COURSES AND PARTICIPANTS BY TYPE AND LENGTH Course Type No. of Courses % of Cou rses No. o f Pa r t ic ipants % of Par t i c i p a n t s Academ i c 19 16.9 302 14.5 Vocat ional 31 27.7 531 25.6 General 62 55.4 1242 59.9 112 100.0 2075 100.0 Course Length 10 sess ions and l e s s 32 28.6 690 33.2 11-20 sess ions 44 39.3 766 36.9 more than 20 sess ions 36 32.1 619 29.8 112 .100.0 2075 100.0 Lenqth The 112 courses were a l s o grouped by length and three c a t e -go r ies were used; courses hav ing ten sess ions or l e s s , those having between e leven and twenty s e s s i o n s , and those having more than twenty sessions. In this c lassi f icat ion by length, 32 of the courses or 28.6 percent were in the group consisting of ten sessions or less; kk courses or 39.3 percent were between eleven and twenty sessions; and 36 or 32.1 percent of the courses were of more than twenty sessions in length. Of the 2,075 registrants, 690 or 33.2 percent were in courses having ten sessions or less, 766 or 36.9 percent were in courses having between eleven and twenty sessions, and 619 or 29.8 percent were in courses having more than twenty sessions. (Table II) Stat ist ical Procedures Chi square' was used to test for s ta t is t ica l ly signif icant differences at the .01 level in the distributions of participant and dropout characteristics by course type and length. Contingency co-2 eff ic ients were calculated for the distributions of participant character ist ics by course type and length. The average daily attendance percentage (ADA%) for each course was calculated by dividing the actual aggregate attendance by the possible aggregate attendance. To test the significance of the differences between ADA percentages, the ADA percentage for a l l courses was compared to the ADA percentage for courses of each different length. Chi squares were calculated according to the procedure outlined in A. L. Edwards, Stat i st i cal Methods for the Behavioral Sc iences, (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1964), pp. 372-381. 2 Ibid. , pp. 381-382. Comparisons were also made between ADA percentages by course type; academic to vocational, academic to general, and vocational to general. 3 The stat is t ica l procedure used was that outlined by Richmond and was 4 similar to the procedure used by Pattyson in calculating c r i t i ca l ratios. The following steps were used in the analysis: 1. Average daily attendance percentages were c a l -culated for al l courses, for courses of different lengths, and for course of different types. 2. The differences between average daily atten-dance percentages were computed for the analysis by course length by subtracting the ADA percentage for a l l courses from that for courses of each different length. In the analysis by course type, the d i f fe r -ences between average daily attendance percentages were computed by subtracting the smaller ADA per-centage from the larger for the three comparisons made. 3. The averages of the average daily attendance percentages being compared were found by using the fo rmu1 a : /P= n l P1 + n2 p2 n l + n2 Samuel B. Richmond, Stat ist ical Analysis, (New York: Ronald Press, 1964), pp. 205-207. 4 Pattyson, op_. c i t . , pp. 23-25. A Where p stands for the average of the two ADA percentages compared, n^ for the number of courses in the f i r s t ADA percentage and the number of courses in the second ADA percentage, p^ for the ADA percent-age of the f i r s t group and p. for the ADA percentage of the second group. k. The standard error of the difference between the two average daily attendance percentages being compared was found by using the formula: Where sp^-p2 stands for the standard error of the difference between the two ADA percentages compared. 5. The Z value or c r i t i ca l ratio (C.R.) was computed by using the formula: 6. The significance level for each cr i t ica l ratio obtained was derived from a table of - j - values. Since there were only ninety-eight courses available for analysis, the c r i t i ca l ratios obtained were generally quite low. Consequently, none were s ta t is t ica l ly signif icant at either the .05 or the .01 level.therefore, the actual level of significance is indicated in each case. Z = I I THE AREA Surrey The-Surrey School D i s t r i c t c o n s i s t s o f a rec tangu la r shaped area approx imate ly f i f t e e n by ten m i l e s . It is bounded on the nor th by the Fraser R i v e r , on the south by the Uni ted States border , on the west by the M u n i c i p a l i t y of D e l t a , and on the eas t by the M u n i c i p a l i t y of Lang ley . The C i t y of White Rock is loca ted in the southwest corner o f the d i s t r i c t . The d i s t r i c t serves main ly as a dormi tory community f o r people who work in Vancouver, Burnaby, and New Westminster , so the h ighes t d e n s i t y of popu la t i on is in the northwest s e c t i o n . There i s some a g r i c u l t u r a l a c t i v i t y , r e s t r i c t e d main ly to the southern h a l f of the d i s t r i c t . Over 27,500 acres of land are zoned fo r a g r i c u l t u r e , 2,500 acres f o r manufac tu r ing , and 1,500 acres f o r l i g h t i n d u s t r y . ' S i x t y - s i x elementary and secondary schoo ls serve approx imate ly 22,000 pup i 1 s . In the l a s t twen t y - f i ve years there has been a rap id increase in p o p u l a t i o n . Between 1921 and 194-1, the popu la t i on increased 155 pe rcen t , from 5 ,8 l4 to 14,840. Between 1941 and 1951 the popu la t i on Mun ic ipa l Manager, D i s t r i c t of Sur rey , \" I ndus t r y has a Future in S u r r e y , \" 1965. Pamphlet. grew 127 percent to 3 3 , 6 7 0 , and then by 130 percent to 77 ,291 at the 2 census in 1961 . The Surrey College Study Commitee estimated a popula-tion of 104 ,000 for Surrey and White Rock in 1966. The Committee also estimated the age composition of the d i s t r i c t ' s population in 1966. The adult proportion of this estimate, shown in Table III establishes the base from which participants in the adult education program are drawn. TABLE I I I ESTIMATED ADULT POPULATION BY AGE, SURREY AND WHITE ROCK, 1966. Age Population 15-24 14,976 25-34 12,168 35-44 13,520 45-54 11,960 55-64 8,320 65 and over 10,712 Total 71,656 Source: College Study Committee, O J D . c i t . , p. 6. School Distr ict No. 36, A Precis of the Report of the Col 1ege Study Committee, November 1964, p. 5. 28 Adult Education in Surrey The growth of the d is t r i c t has resulted in a recent serious concern with the need for an organized adult education program with a broad range of ac t iv i t i es . The school board hired a full-t ime director of adult education in 1963- Since then they have also hired a part-time academic counselor and a part-time night school pr inc ipa l , in addition to course instructors. As the d i s t r i c t ' s investment in adult education has increased so has the number of participants. (Table IV) Between the 1962-63 and 1963-64 academic years, the number of registra-tions increased by 280 percent. A further increase of 21 percent occurred between 1963-64 and 1 9 6 4 - 6 5 . Estimated registrations for the 1965-66 year indicate an increase of 22 percent over the 1964-65 year. Approxi-mately 4 . 5 percent of the d i s t r i c t ' s adult population is currently in-volved in the public adult night school program. Most of the courses offered are located at secondary schools in the northwest section of the d is t r ic t because of the heavy concen-tration of population within a one mile radius of these schools. Of the 115 courses offered in the autumn of 1965 , 47 were at Queen Elizabeth Senior Secondary and 34 were at West WSnalley Junior Secondary. Semiahmoo Senior Secondary in White Rock was the location for ten classes. Other courses are offered at schools throughout the d is t r i c t as the need is perceived by the director. TABLE IV REGISTRATIONS IN THE SURREY AND WHITE ROCK ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAM, 1962-63 to 1965-66. Course Category 1962-63 Registra tions 1963 -64 Registra-t ions 1964-65 Reg i stra-t ions 1965-66 Registrat ions (estimated) Vocational 65 237 6 4 2 750 Academ i c \u00E2\u0080\u0094 234 354 350 Gene ra1 480 1208 1209 1800 Spec ial 394 425 300 Total 545 2073 2630 3200 Source: W. L. Day, \"School Distr ict No. 36 Adult Education Report, School year 1964-65,\" and a personal communication from Mr.Day. There were several reasons for selecting the Surrey-White Rock program for the present study. The adult education program is generally regarded by adult educators as one of the more comprehensive ones in the province. The director and the school board expressed a willingness to cooperate with the investigator in every possible way. The registration system using McBee KeySort cards had been tried in the 1964-65 year and had proved to be pract ica l . Chapter Four CHARACTERISTICS OF PARTICIPANTS This chapter will present a description of the socio-economic characteristics of participants in the Surrey public adult night school program in relation to course type and an analysis in relation to course length. In addition there is presented a supplementary analysis of non-responses to registration card items. I SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF PARTICIPANTS BY COURSE TYPE Sex Participants in the total program were divided approximately s i x t y percent female and f o r t y percent male. The h ighest p ropo r t i on of female p a r t i c i p a n t s were found in the general course category where over s e v e n t y - f i v e percent of those e n r o l l e d were female. Th is d i s -t r i b u t i o n was reve rsed , however, in the academic category where almost s e v e n t y - f i v e percent were male. Voca t iona l courses e n r o l l e d some s i x t y percent male and f o r t y percent female p a r t i c i p a n t s . The ch i square t e s t f o r s t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e s in the d i s t r i b u t i o n by sex among the course ca tego r i es produced a chi square va lue of 66 .44 , which is s i g n i f i c a n t at the .01 l e v e l ; t h e r e f o r e , the n u l l hypothes is of no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e is r e j e c t e d . ,The con-t ingency c o e f f i c i e n t ob ta ined was . 631 . (Table V) There is a d e f i n i t e tendency f o r males to be a t t r a c t e d to academic and voca t i ona l cou rses , whereas females tend to make up the bulk of the enro l lment in genera] i n t e r e s t cou rses . Th is might r e f l e c t a male i n t e r e s t in the more \" p r a c t i c a l \" o r g o a l - o r i e n t e d aspec ts o f the Surrey program. TABLE V SEX DISTRIBUTION OF PARTICIPANTS BY COURSE CATEGORY Course Male Female Tota l Category No. % No. % No. 7 Academ i c 218 72.18 84 27.82 302 100.00 Vocat ional 319 60.08 212 39.92 531 100.00 General 309 24.88 933 75.12 1242 100.00 Tota l 846 40.77 1229 59.23 2075 100.00 Chi square = 66.44 Degrees of freedom = 2 S i g n i f i c a n t at .01 l e v e l Contingency c o e f f i c i e n t ^ .631 Age Almost f i f ty percent of the participants were under thir ty-f ive years of age while less than twenty percent were over forty- f ive and less than six percent were over f i f t y - f i v e . When this age d is -tribution is compared with that of the total d is t r ic t population it becomes apparent that proportionately more younger adults and proportion-ately fewer older adults participate in the public night school program than there are in the population as a whole. In the academic course category forty- f ive percent of the participants were under twenty-five, and the percentage of participants declined in each successive age group so that only five percent of the participants were over for ty - f ive . In both the vocational and general interest course categories the peak rate of participation occurred in the twenty-five to thirty-four age group and then declined for each successive age group. In contrast to the academic category, nineteen percent of vocational course participants and twenty-three percent of general interest course participants were over for ty - f ive . While seventy-seven percent of the academic course participants were under th i r ty - f ive years of age, f i f t y percent of the vocational and forty-two percent of the general interest course participants were under thir ty-f ive. TABLE VI AGE DISTRIBUTION OF PARTICIPANTS BY COURSE CATEGORY Course 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+ Not Total Category Known No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % 136 45.03 96 31.79 42 13.91 14 4.63 2 .66 0 0 .12 3.97 302 100.00 123 23.16 142 26.74 134 25.23 80 15.07 13 2.45 8 1.51 31 5 .84 531 100.00 159 12.80 368 29.63 314 25 .28 197 15.86 53 4.27 38 3.06 1 13 9.10 1242 100.00 Tota l 418 20.14 606 29 .20 490 23.61 291 14.02 68 3.28 46 2.22 156 7.52 2075 100.00 Academ i c Vocat ional General Chi square = 48.69 Degrees of freedom = 10 S i g n i f i c a n t at .01 leve l Contingency c o e f f i c i e n t = .572 3 4 The chi square value of 4 8 . 6 9 obtained when testing the age distr ibution is signif icant at the .01 level . The contingency co-ef f ic ient obtained was . 5 7 2 . (Table VI) The null hypothesis is re-jected, which indicates that there is a signif icant difference in the age distr ibution among the types of courses. The participants in the academic and vocational courses tended to be younger. Thus, these two course categories seemed to enroll those young adults seeking to complete their high school training. The older adults who participated mainly in general interest courses probably enrolled for different reasons, although this cannot be def ini tely established. Marital Status More than seventy-five percent of the participants were married, seventeen percent were s ingle , and three percent were either widowed or divorced. The proportion of married participants was highest in the general course category with eighty-four percent and lowest in the academic course category which had f i f ty - four percent. The pro-portion of single participants, however, was lowest in the general course category at nine percent and highest in the academic course category with thirty-nine percent. The vocational course category occupied the inter-mediate position with seventy percent married and twenty-three percent single participants. The chi square value of 4 3 . 9 6 obtained is signif icant at the .01 level , therefore the null hypothesis of no signif icant difference is rejected. A contingency coefficient of .55.2 was obtained. (Table VII) Academic and vocational courses tended to attract more young,unmarried male adults than did general interest courses. This may again reflect an interest in the goal-oriented aspects of the Surrey program on the part of these registrants. General interest course participants, on the other hand, may be more interested in the social and leisure time aspects of the program. TABLE VI I MARITAL STATUS OF PARTICIPANTS BY COURSE CATEGORY Course Marr ied S ing le Widowed Divorced Not Known Total Category No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % Academic 164 54.30 119 39 .40 0 0 6 1.99 13 4.30 302 100.00 Vocat iona l 374 70.43 123 23.16 7 1.32 8 1.51 19 3.58 531 100.00 General 1044 84.06 113' 9.10 31 2.50 9 .72 '45 3.62 1242 100.00 Tota l 1582 76 .24 355 17.11 38 1.83 23 1.11 77 3.71 2075 100.00 Chi square = 43.96 Degrees of freedom = 6 S i g n i f i c a n t at .01 leve l Contingency c o e f f i c i e n t = .552 Number of Ch i l d ren More than f i f t y percent of a l l p a r t i c i p a n t s e i t h e r repor ted no c h i l d r e n or d id not respond to the i tem. Of those p a r t i c i p a n t s who d id respond, those e n r o l l e d in general courses had an average of 1.46 c h i l d r e n , which was the h ighes t found in any course ca tegory , wh i le p a r t i c i p a n t s in voca t i ona l courses had an average of 1.24 c h i l d r e n and in academic courses the average was .94 c h i l d r e n . Near ly s i x t y - t h r e e percent o f the academic course p a r t i c i p a n t s reported no c h i l d r e n or d id not respond compared to f i f t y - f o u r percent of the voca t i ona l and f o r t y - s e v e n percent of the general i n t e r e s t course p a r t i c i p a n t s . Nine percent o f the academic course p a r t i c i p a n t s repor ted one c h i l d compared to e igh t percent of the voca t i ona l and seven percent o f the general i n t e r e s t course p a r t i c i p a n t s . In each of the ca tego r i es f o r two, t h ree , and four c h i l d r e n , however, the h ighes t rate was in general courses fo l l owed by voca t i ona l and then academic cou rses . The percentage of p a r t i c i p a n t s repo r t i ng f i v e or more c h i l d r e n was ap-prox imate ly equal f o r each course ca tegory . The ch i square va lue of 10.14 obta ined f o r the d i s t r i b u t i o n by number of c h i l d r e n is not s i g n i f i c a n t a t the .01 l e v e l , t he re fo re the n u l l hypothes is o f no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e is accep ted . A cont ingency c o e f f i c i e n t o f .304 was ob ta ined . (Table VI I I ) This i n d i c a t e s that the groups d id not d i f f e r w i th respect to the average number of c h i l d r e n . These data are sub jec t to q u e s t i o n , however, in view of the f a c t that no p r o v i s i o n was made to d i f f e r e n t i a t e between a no response and no c h i l d r e n . TABLE VIII DISTRIBUTION OF PARTICIPANTS BY NUMBER OF CHILDREN BY COURSE CATEGORY Course None or Category not known 1 2 3 4 5 o r more Tota l Average No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % Academic 190 62.91 29 9.60 34 11.26 24 7.95 10 3.31 15 4.97 302 100.00 .94 Vocat iona l 286 53.86 44 8.28 79 14.88 68 12.81 36 6.78 18 3.39 531 100.00 1.24 General 578 46.54 93 7.49 222 17.87 180 14.49 110 8.86 59 4.75 1242 100.00 1.46 Tota l 1054 50.80 166 8.00 335 16.14 272 13.11 156 7.52 92 4.43 2075 100.00 1.32 Chi square = 10.14 Degrees of freedom = Not s i g n i f i c a n t at .01 leve l Contingency c o e f f i c i e n t = .304 10 Years of Schoolinq Academic courses had the highest proportion of participants with eight years of schooling or less at sixteen percent; followed by vocational course participants at twelve percent; and general course participants at nine percent. The highest proportion of those with nine to twelve years of schooling completed, however, was in the vo-cational course category with sixty-four percent; followed by the academic course category, sixty-one percent, and the general course category, f i f t y - f i v e percent. Four percent of the academic course participants, seven percent in vocational courses, and twelve percent of those in the general courses had completed at least one year of university. Nine percent of the academic course participants had at least one year of technical training, which is more than vocational course participants who had five percent or the six percent among general course participants. The chi square value of 12.00 obtained is not signif icant at the .01 level , therefore the null hypothesis of no signif icant difference is accepted. A contingency coefficient of .327 was obtained. (Table IX) The educational level of participants is not s ignif icant ly different among the types of courses. TABLE IX DISTRIBUTION OF PARTICIPANTS BY YEARS OF SCHOOL COMPLETED BY COURSE CATEGORY 1-2 3-5 Post 1-2 3 -4 Not 0-8 9-12 University University Graduate Technical Technical Known Total Course Category No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % Academic 47 15 .56 185 6 1 . 2 6 10 3.31 1 .33 Vocational 63 11 .86 340 64.03 30 5 .65 7 1.32 General 112 9 . 0 2 685 5 5 . 1 5 75 6 . 0 4 66 5.31 1 .33 16 5.30 11 3 . 6 4 31 10.26 302 100.00 1 .19 12 2.26 12 2.26 66 12.43 531 100.00 9 .72 46 3.70 34 2.74 215 17.31 1242 100.00 Total 222 10.70 1210.58.31 115 5.54 74 3.57 11 .53 74 3.57 57 2.75 312 15 .04 2075 100.00 Chi square = 12.00 Degrees of freedom = 6 Not signif icant at .01 level Contingency coefficient = .327 Occupat ion The most frequently reported occupation was housewife at forty-one percent followed by nine percent c l e r i c a l , eight percent labourer, while professional-technical and service-recreation had seven percent each, and craftsman six percent. Each of the remaining occu-pational categories contained less than five percent of the participants. Fifty-seven percent of the general course participants were housewives compared to twenty percent in vocational courses and fourteen percent in academic courses. Clerical workers, however, formed fourteen percent of academic participants compared to thirteen percent of voca-tional and seven percent of general. Labourers made up seventeen per-cent of the academic and sixteen percent of the vocational course par-t ic ipants, but less than two percent of the general. Nine percent of the general and five percent each of vocational and academic course participants were professional-technical. Service-recreation workers made up twelve percent of the academic course participants, but only eight ^percent of the vocational and five percent of the general interest course participants. Craftsmen formed eleven percent of the vocational, but only seven percent of the academic and three percent of the general course participants. The chi square value of 83.66 obtained for the occupational distr ibution is signif icant at the .01 level , therefore the null hypo-thesis of no signif icant difference in the distribution of participants by occupation is rejected. A contingency coefficient of .675 was obtained (Table X) The findings for the occupational distribution indicate that housewives formed the majority of participants in general interest courses. Participants in certain occupational groups such as c l e r i c a l , labourer, and transportation-communication appeared to be more inter-ested in subjects related to job qual i f icat ion and advancement since they enrolled at higher proportional rates in academic and vocational courses than in general interest courses. TABLE OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF T ranspor ta t i on P r o f e s s i o n a l Serv ice and Course Manager ia l and Techn ica l C l e r i c a l Sales and Recrea t ion Communication Category No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % -No. % Academic 1 .33 16 5.30 42 13.91 15 4.97 36 11.92 25 8.28 Vocat iona l 13 2.45 26 4.90 71 13-38 18 3.39 41 7.72 50 9.41 General 22 1.77 109 8.78 84 6.76 23 1.85 62 4.99 20 1.61 Tota l 36 1.73 151 7.28 197 9.49 56 2.70 139 6.70 95 4.58 Chi square = S i g n i f i c a n t Cont i ngency 83.66 Degrees of freedom = a t .01 l eve l c o e f f i c i e n t = .675 12 X PARTICIPANTS BY COURSE CATEGORY Not Known Total No. % No. % Primary Craftsmen Laborers Housewives Occupation No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % 5 1.65 20 6.62 2 .38 57 10.73 6 .48 42 3.38 51 16.89 43 14.24 84 15.82 105 19.77 22 1.77 705 56.76 9 2.98 39 18 3.39 46 53 4.27 94 12.91 302 100.00 8.66 531 100.00 7.57 1242 100.00 13 .63 119 5.73 157 7.57 853 41.11 80 3.85 179 8.63 2075 100.00 Years Resident in the Distr ict Fifty-seven percent of the participants indicated that they had lived in the Surrey d is t r ic t for five years or more, while fifteen percent had lived there for two years or less and nine percent had lived there for three or four years. Nineteen percent of the pa r t i c i -pants in academic courses had lived in the d is t r i c t for two years or less, compared to seventeen percent of the vocational and thirteen percent of the general interest course participants. Slightly more general course participants at ten percent had lived in the d is t r i c t for three or four years than academic course participants at eight per-cent or vocational course participants with seven percent. Fifty-one percent of the academic course participants had lived in the d is t r i c t for five years or more, compared to f i f ty -e ight percent of the voca-tional and f ifty-seven percent of the general interest course p a r t i c i -pants. The chi square value of 2.kk obtained is not signif icant at the .01 level , therefore the null hypothesis of no signif icant difference is accepted. The contingency coeff icient obtained was . 1 5 5 (Table XI) Thus, the years of residence of participants is not s ignif icant ly d i f fe r -ent among the three types of courses. TABLE XI DISTRIBUTION OF PARTICIPANTS BY YEARS RESIDENT IN THE DISTRICT BY COURSE CATEGORY Course 0-2 Years 3-4 Years 5+ Years Not Known Tota l Category No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % Academic 56 18.54 24 7.95 153 50.66 69 22.85 302 100.00 Vocat iona l 91 17.14 38 7.16 307 57.81 95 17.89 531 100.00 General 166 13.37 126 10.14 713 57.41 237 19.08 1242 100.00 Tota l 313 15.08 188 9.06 1173 56.53 401 19.33 2075 100.00 Chi square = 2.44 Degrees of freedom = Not s i g n i f i c a n t at .01 l eve l Contingency c o e f f i c i e n t = .155 4 Previous Attendance at Adult Education Courses Fifty-one percent of the participants had not attended any other adult education courses within the past three years, while thirty-three percent had done so with twenty percent of these attending courses in Surrey and thirteen percent elsewhere. Sixteen percent of the registrants did not respond to this item. Fif ty-four percent of the academic course participants had not attended any other courses within the last three years, compared to fifty-two percent of the vocational course participants and forty-nine percent of the general course participants. Twenty-four percent of the general course participants had previously attended in Surrey, while eighteen percent of the academic and only twelve percent of the vocational course participants had previously attended in Surrey. Fifteen percent of the vocational course participants, however, had attended elsewhere while fourteen percent of the academic and eleven percent of the general course participants had attended elsewhere. The chi square value of 5.72 obtained for the previous at-tendance distr ibution is not signif icant at the .01 leve l , therefore the null hypothesis of no signif icant difference is accepted. A con-tingency coeff icient of .233 was obtained. (Table XII) Thus,previous attendance at adult education act iv i t ies is not s ignif icant ly different among the three types of courses. TABLE XI I DISTRIBUTION OF PARTICIPANTS BY PREVIOUS ATTENDANCE AT ADULT EDUCATION COURSES IN LAST THREE YEARS BY COURSE CATEGORY Cou rse A t t e n d e d A t t e n d e d C a t e g o r y No A t t e n d a n c e i n S u r r e y E lsewhe re Not Known T o t a l No. % No. No. \u00C2\u00B0/o No. % No. % Academ i c 164 54.30 54 1 7 . 8 8 42 13.91 42 13.91 302 1 0 0 . 0 0 Voca t i o n a l 277 5 2 . 1 7 62 11 .68 81 15.25 111 20.90 531 1 0 0 . 0 0 Genera 1 613 4 9 . 3 6 300 2 4 . 1 5 139 1 1 . 1 9 190' 15.30 1242 1 0 0 . 0 0 T o t a l 1054 5 0 . 8 0 416 2 0 . 0 4 262 12 .63 343 16 .53 2075 1 0 0 . 0 0 Chi s q u a r e = 5.72 Degrees o f f reedom = 4 Not s i g n i f i c a n t a t .01 l e v e l C o n t i n g e n c y c o e f f i c i e n t = .233 Travel Time to C lass Seven ty - s i x percent of the p a r t i c i p a n t s t r a v e l l e d l ess than twenty minutes to reach c l a s s , but on ly twenty- th ree percent t r a v e l l e d twenty minutes or more. The h ighes t p ropo r t i on o f p a r t i c i p a n t s at f i f t y - s e v e n percent t r a v e l l e d between ten and n ineteen minutes to a t tend c l a s s . Twenty-two percent of the g e n e r a l , s i x t e e n percent o f the academic, and four teen percent of the voca t i ona l course p a r t i c i p a n t s t r a v e l l e d l e s s than ten minutes to a t tend c l a s s . Approx imate ly f i f t y -seven percent of the p a r t i c i p a n t s in each course category t r a v e l l e d between ten and n ineteen minutes . Eighteen percent o f the v o c a t i o n a l , s i x t e e n percent of the academic, and four teen percent o f the general course p a r t i c i p a n t s t r a v e l l e d between twenty and twenty-n ine minutes . Approx imate ly e leven percent o f the academic and voca t i ona l course p a r t i c i p a n t s t r a v e l l e d t h i r t y minutes or more, but on ly seven percent o f the general course p a r t i c i p a n t s t r a v e l l e d t h i r t y minutes or more. The ch i square va lue of 6.14 f o r the t r a v e l t ime d i s t r i b u t i o n is not s i g n i f i c a n t at the .01 l e v e l , t he re fo re the nu l l hypothes is o f no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e is accep ted . A cont ingency c o e f f i c i e n t o f .241 was o b t a i n e d . (Table XI I I ) Thus, t r a v e l t ime to c l a s s is not s i g n i f i c a n t l y d i f f e r e n t among the three types of cou rses . TABLE XIII DISTRIBUTION OF PARTICIPANTS BY TRAVEL TIME TO CLASS BY COURSE CATEGORY Cou rse Category 0-9 Min. 10-19 Min. 20-29 Min. 30-39 Min. 40-49 Min. 50-59 Min. Not Known Total No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % Academic. 48 15.89 175 57.95 47 15.56 22 7.28 8 2.65 2 .66 0 0 302 100.00 Vocational 74 13.94 302 56.87 98 18.46 47 8.85 9 1.69 1 .19 0 0 531 100.00 General 271 21.82 705 56.76 170 13.69 79 6.36 7 .56 3 .24 7 .56 1242 100.00 Total 393 18.94 1182 56.96 315 15.18 148 7.13 24 1.16 6 .29 7 .34 2075 100.00 Chi square = 6.14 Degrees of freedom = 8 Not signif icant at .01 level Contingency c o e f f i c i e n t s .241 II SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF PARTICIPANTS BY COURSE LENGTH The registration cards were sorted and tabulated for p a r t i c i -pant characteristics by course length. Since courses varied greatly In.length, three groupings were used: courses having ten sessions or less; courses having between eleven and twenty sessions; and courses having more than twenty sessions. These groupings by length of course were related to the course categories. Academic courses,.for example, were a l l more than twenty sessions while few general courses were more than twenty sessions. The distr ibution of courses and participants in the three categories of course length was described ear l ier in Table II. A chi square value of 2.39 was obtained for this distr ibut ion. Since this was not signif icant at the .01 level , therefore, there was no signif icant difference in enrollment in courses by virtue of course length. Chi squares and contingency coefficients were calculated for the same nine socio-economic characteristics considered in the analysis of participants by course type. As shown in Table XIV the analysis by course length indicated that sex, age, marital status, and occupation were s ta t is t ica l ly signif icant at the .01 level . For each of these four character ist ics, however, the chi square value obtained was smaller than in the analysis by course type. Similarly, for each of the other five characteristics tested in the analysis by course length, chi square values were smaller than in the analysis by course type. The chi square 52 va lues and cont ingency c o e f f i c i e n t s ob ta ined in the a n a l y s i s by course length are summarized in Table XIV. Under l ined va lues of ch i square are s t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t at the .01 l e v e l . TABLE XIV CHI SQUARE VALUES AND CONTINGENCY COEFFICIENTS FOR PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS BY COURSE LENGTH C h a r a c t e r i s t i c Chi Square Contingency C o e f f i c i e n t Sex 17.56 .386 Age 23.68 .438 M a r i t a l S ta tus 22.57 .429 Number of Ch i l d ren 8.66 .281 Years o f Schoo l ing 4.93 .217 Occupat ion 28.62 .472 Years res iden t in the d i s t r i c t 2.32 .152 Prev ious at tendance at adu l t educat ion courses 2.07 .141 Travel t ime to c l a s s 2.39 .152 I I I NON-RESPONSES The percentage of non-responses varied among the different items on the registration card. Items concerned with the character-is t ics years resident in the d i s t r i c t , previous attendance at adult education courses, and years of schooling were not responded to by over f ifteen percent of the participants. The item concerned with travel time to c lass, conversely, received more than ninety-nine percent response, possibly because of the item's location on the left hand side of the registration card. The characteristic sex was deduced from in-formation given in the name. It was not possible to separate the non-responders from the responders having no children. The number and per-centage of non-responses for each of seven characteristics is indicated in Table XV. TABLE XV NON-RESPONSES TO REGISTRATION CARD ITEMS Characteristic Total Non- Percent Poss i ble Response Non-Response Responses Age 2075 156 7.52 Marital Status 2075 77 3.71 Occupat ion 2075 179 8.63 Years of School ing 2075 . 312 15.04 Years Resident 2075 401 19.33 Previous Attendance 2075 343 16.53 Travel Time 2075 7 .34 Total 14525 1475 10.15 IV SUMMARY Four of the socio-economic characteristics tested showed signif icant differences by course type and length; sex, age, marital status, and occupation. There were signif icant ly more male, young, and single participants from c l e r i c a l , labourer, and transportation-com-munication occupational groups enrolled in academic courses. General course participants were the oldest group and consisted mainly of housewives. Vocational course participants occupied the median position between academic and general enrol lees in each of the four signif icant characterist ics. There were no signif icant differences among the course cate-gories in the distributions of the characteristics number of children, years of schooling, years resident in the d i s t r i c t , previous attendance at adult education courses, and travel time to class. Chapter Five CHARACTERISTICS OF DROPOUTS The research concerned with the socio-economic character-is t ics of dropouts in adult education programs has been inconclusive. No characteristics have emerged that consistently distinguish between those people who persist in attendance and those who drop out. This chapter will describe the socio-economic characteristics of dropouts in the Surrey public adult night school program in relation to course type and course length in an attempt to ascertain if there are certain characteristics that differentiate between dropouts and persistent attenders. I SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF DROPOUTS BY COURSE TYPE AND COURSE LENGTH Of the 2,075 p a r t i c i p a n t s in the Surrey program 577 or 27.8 percent were c l a s s i f i e d as d ropouts . One hundred and e ighteen adu l t s or 39.1 percent of the t o t a l enro l lment in academic courses dropped out compared to 186 or 35.0 percent of the voca t i ona l enro l lment and 273 or 22.0 percent o f the general i n t e r e s t course en ro l lmen t . There was a marked d i f f e r e n c e in dropout f i g u r e s between courses of d i f f e r e n t l eng th ; 71 a d u l t s or 10.3 percent o f the t o t a l enro l lment in courses having ten sess ions o r l ess dropped out as aga ins t 253 or 33.0 percent in courses of between e leven and twenty sess ions and 253 or 4-0.9 pe r -cent in courses having more than twenty s e s s i o n s . Sex T h i r t y percent o f the males and twen ty - s i x percent of the females in the Surrey p u b l i c adu l t n ight school program dropped o u t . The dropout f i g u r e in the academic course category f o r females at 40 ,5 percent was s l i g h t l y h igher than that f o r males who had 38.5 pe r -cen t . There was a l a r g e r spread in the voca t i ona l category where 44 .8 percent of the females dropped out as aga ins t 28.5 percent of the ma les . In the general course ca tegory , however, 25.9 percent of the males and 20,7 percent of the females d i scon t i nued a t tendance. The chi square va lue of 5.01 obta ined fo r the sex d i s t r i b u t i o n of dropouts by course type shown in Table XVI is not s i g n i f i c a n t at the .01 l e v e l . The nu l l hypothes is o f no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e , t h e r e f o r e , i s accep ted . In the a n a l y s i s by course length 7.7 percent o f the males and 11,2 percent o f the females dropped out o f courses having ten sess ions o r l e s s . A g rea te r p ropo r t i on of females at 46 ,9 percent than males w i th 36.0 percent dropped out of courses having more than twenty s e s s i o n s . However, a g rea te r p ropo r t i on o f males at 36.5 pe r -cent than fema les .a t 30.5 percent d i scon t i nued at tendance in e leven to twenty s e s s i o n c o u r s e s . The chi square va lue of 2.77 obta ined fo r the sex d i s t r i b u t i o n of dropouts by course length shown in Table XVI i s not s i g n i f i c a n t at the .01 l e v e l , t h e r e f o r e , the nu l l hypothes is of no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e is accep ted . Thus, there appears to be no s i g -n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e in the dropout f i g u r e by sex among the course type or length c a t e g o r i e s . TABLE XVI SEX DISTRIBUTION OF DROPOUTS BY COURSE CATEGORY AND COURSE LENGTH Al l 10 Sessions 11-20 Sessions Over 20 Sex Courses Academic Vocational General and less Sessions No. No, No. No, No, No, No, (%) (%) (%) (7c) (%) (%) (%) Male 255 84 91 80 14 118 123 (30.1) (38.5) (28.5) (25.9) (7.7) (36.5) (36.0) Female 322* 3k 95 193 57 135 130 (26.2) (40.5) (44.8) (20.7) (11.2) (30.5) (46.9) Total 577 118 186 273 71 253 253 (27.8) (39.1) (35.0) (22.0) (10.3) (33.0) (40.9) The highest number of dropouts by age in a l l courses was in the 15-24 year group which had thirty-eight percent. The number declined to 2 7 . 2 percent in the 2 5 = 3 4 year group, to 2 3 . 7 percent in the 3 5 - ^ year group, and to 2 0 , 6 percent in the 4 - 5 - 5 4 year group. The number of dropouts increased to 2 3 . 5 percent in the 55-64 group and to 2 8 . 3 percent in the 6 5 and over group. This same pattern showing a decline in the number of drop-outs to the 4 5 = 5 4 year group and then a rise in the later age groups was observed in the analysis by course type with one exception. In the academic course category 5 7 . 1 percent of those 4 5 - 5 4 years of age dropped out. Further in the academic category 41.9 percent of the 1 15=24 group, 3 4 . 4 percent of the 25\u00C2\u00AB\u00C2\u00BB34 year group, and 3 3 . 3 percent of the 3 5 = 4 4 year group discontinued attendance. In the vocational course category 4 3 . 9 percent of those 15=24, 3 3 . 1 percent of those 2 5 = 3 4 , 1 3 2 . 8 percent between 3 5 and 4 4 , 2 7 . 5 percent between 4 5 and 5 4 , and 3 8 . 5 percent of the 6 5 and over age group dropped out. The general course category had the 1 owest d ropout; f i gu re in each age group; 3 0 . 2 I percent in the 15=24, 2 3 . 1 percent in the 2 5 - 3 4 , 1 8 . 5 percent in the 3 5 - 4 4 , 1 5 . 2 percent in the 4 5 = 5 4 , and 2 0 . 8 percent in the 55-64 year groups. Twenty-nine percent of the general course participants aged 6 5 and over dropped out but this percentage was based on only eleven cases. The chi square of 2 2 . 3 8 obtained for the age distr ibution of dropouts by course type shown in Table XVII is signif icant at the . 0 1 level . The null hypothesis of no signif icant difference is therefore rejected. The greatest number of dropouts occurred in the younger age groups and in academic and vocational courses. Since these adults appear l ikely to have been high school dropouts as wel l , they seem to be continuing this pattern of behavior as night school students. The conduct of the night school program may not be suf f ic ient ly different from that of the high school to develop attitudes toward continuing education that would cause a change in this discontinuance behavior. The increase in dropouts among the older student may indicate that the instructional pace is too fast for the older members. The same age pattern of discontinuance was noted in the analysis by course length with minor modifications. In the courses having ten sessions or less 9.5 percent of the 15-24 group, 11.6 per-cent of the 25=34 group, 6.9 percent of the 35=44 group, 8.4 percent of the 45-54 group, 16.7 percent of the 55=64 group, and 10.5 percent of those 65 and over discontinued attendance. In.the eleven to twenty session courses 39.4 percent in the 15-24 age group, 33.8 percent in the 25=34, 31.6 percent in the 35=44, 30.9 percent in the 45-54, 20.0 percent in the 55=64, and 50.0 percent in the 65 and over group dropped out. For the courses having more than twenty sessions 47.2 percent of the 15=24 years of age group dropped out. Furthermore, 37.3 percent of the 25=34 group, 35.1 percent of the 35=44 group, 35.2 percent of the 45=54 group, and 42.9 percent of the 55-64 year group did not persist in attendance. The chi square value of 6.04 obtained for the age distr ibution of dropouts by course length shown in Table XVII is TABLE XVI I AGE DISTRIBUTION OF DROPOUTS BY COURSE CATEGORY AND COURSE LENGTH Age A l 1 C o u r s e s \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 No . (%) Academ i c No . (%) Voca t i o n a l No . (%) Genera 1 No. (%) 10 s e s s i o n s and l e s s No . (\u00C2\u00B0/o) 11-20 s e s s i o n s No . (%) Over 20 s e s s i ons No. (%) 15 -24 159 57 54 48 7 52 100 (38.0) (41.9) (43.9) (30.2) (9.5). \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 (39.4) (47.2) 25-34 165 33 47 85 24 J 75 66 (27.2) (34.4) (33 . 0 (23 . 0 (11.6) (33.8) (37.3) 35-44 116 14 44 58 12 65 39 (23.7) (33.3) (32.8) (18.5) (6.9) (31.6) (35.D 45-54 60 8 22 30 12 29 19 (20.6) (57.D (27.5) (15.2) (8.4) (30.9) (35.2) 55 -64 16 0 5 11 4 6 6 (23.5) (o) (38.5) (20.8) (16.7) (20.0) (42.9) 65 and up 13 0 2 11 2 11 0 (28.3) (o) (25.0) (28.9) (10.5) (5.00) (0) Not known 48 6 12 30 10 15 23 (30.8) (50.0) (38.7) (26.5) (20.0) (25.0) (50.0) T o t a l 577 (27.8) 118 (39.D 186 (35.0) 273 (22.0) \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 71 (10.3) 253 (33.0) 253 (40.9) 6 not s i g n i f i c a n t at the .01 l e v e l . There fo re , the n u l l hypothes is o f no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e is accep ted . Age by course length is ap -p a r e n t l y not a s i g n i f i c a n t f a c t o r i n f l u e n c i n g p e r s i s t e n c e and discon\u00C2\u00AB. t inuance of a t tendance . Ma r i t a l Status There was a marked d i f f e r e n c e in dropout f i g u r e s f o r a l l courses w i th respect to mar i t a l s t a t u s . Only 24.4 percent of the marr ied enro l lees dropped out compared to 39.7 percent of the s i n g l e enro l l e e s . A l though there were on l y n ineteen dropouts a l t o g e t h e r in these two c a t e g o r i e s , t w e n t y - s i x percent o f the widowed and t h i r t y -nine percent o f the d i vo rced r e g i s t r a n t s d i scon t i nued a t tendance. In the academic course category 34.1 percent o f the marr ied and 4-3.7 percent of the s i n g l e p a r t i c i p a n t s dropped out wh i l e 31.8 percent o f the marr ied and 44 .7 percent o f the s i n g l e en ro l lees dropped out of voca t i ona l courses and 20.2 percent of the marr ied and 30.1 pe r -cent of the s i n g l e r e g i s t r a n t s d i scon t i nued at tendance in general cou rses . The ch i square va lue of 9.93 f o r the d i s t r i b u t i o n o f dropouts by ma r i t a l s t a tus by course type as shown in Table XVIII is s i g n i f i c a n t at the .01 l e v e l , t he re fo re the nu l l hypothes is o f no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e is r e j e c t e d . The high number o f s i n g l e dropouts is probably r e l a t ed to the age f a c t o r . The young unmarried adu l t s are faced w i th the same i n s t r u c t i o n a l s i t u a t i o n that fo rced them out of the day s c h o o l . No i n te r ven ing educat ion has occur red that would develop a t t i t u d e s favo rab le TABLE XVIII MARITAL STATUS OF DROPOUTS BY COURSE CATEGORY AND COURSE LENGTH Ma r i ta1 Status Al 1 Courses No. (%) Academ i c No. (7o) Vocat ional No. (%) Genera 1 No. (%) 10 sessions and less No. (%) 11-20 sess ions No. (%) over 20 sess ions No. (%) Ma rr ied 386 (24.4) 56 (34.1) 119 (31.8) 21 1 (20.2) 53 (8.9) 197 (32.0) 136 (37.0) Si ngle 141 (39.7) 52 (43.7) 55 (44.7) 34 (30.1) 11 (17.7) 36 (37.0 94 (48.0) Wi dowed 10 (26.3) 0 (o) (14.3) 9 (29.0) 2 (16.7) 7 (35.0) 1 (16.7) Di vorced 9 (39.0 3 (50.0) 5 (62.5) (11.0 1 (25.0) (37.5) 5 (45.5) Now known 31 (40.3) 7 (53.8) 6 (31.6) 18 (40.0) 4 (28.6) 10 (40.0) 17 (44.7) Total 577 118 186 273 71 253 253 (27.8) (39.1) (35.0) (22.0) (10.3) (33.0) (40.9) to continuing education. Furthermore, the attitudes and techniques of instructors may not be adapted to the adult sett ing. In the analysis by course length 8.9 percent of the married and 17.7 percent of the single enrol lees in courses having ten sessions or less, 32.0 percent of the married and 37.1 percent of the single enrol lees in the courses having between eleven and twenty sessions, and 37.0 percent of the married and 48.0 percent of the single par-ticipants in the courses having more than twenty sessions dropped out. The chi square of 8.27 obtained for the distribution by marital status shown in Table XVIII is not signif icant at the .01 level although it is at the .05 level . The null hypothesis of no signif icant difference is accepted. Thus, there is no signif icant difference in the dropout figures by marital status among courses of different length. Number of Children The highest dropout figure by number of children in a l l courses at thirty-three percent was found among those who either had no children or who did not respond. Of those reporting one child 27.1 percent dropped out compared to 21.8 percent of those with two children, 22.1 percent with three children, 20.5 percent with four children, and 23.9 percent of the participants with five or more children. In the analysis by course type 44.2 percent of the academic enrol lees with no children or who did not respond as against 27.6 per-cent with one ch i ld , 35.3 percent with two children, 25.0 percent with three children, 10.0 percent with four children and 46.7 percent of TABLE XIX DISTRIBUTION OF DROPOUTS BY NUMBER OF CHILDREN BY COURSE CATEGORY AND COURSE LENGTH Number o f Ch i1d ren A l 1 Courses N o . (%) Academ i c No. (7o) Voca t iona1 No . (%) Genera l No. (%) 10 s e s s i o n s and l e s s No. (%) 11-20 s e s s i ons N o . (%) Over 20 s e s s i ons No . (%) 0 o r not known 345 84 109 152 40 130 175 (33.0) (44.2) (38.1) (26.3) (13.2) (34.9) (46.4) 1 45 8 17 20 4 21 20 (27.D (27.6) (38.6) (21.5) (8.2) (32.3) (38.5) 2 73 12 22 39 8 36 29 (21.8) (35.3) (27.8) (17.6) (6.3) (27.7) (37.2) 3 60 6 20 34 14 31 15 (22.1) (25.0) (29.4) (18.9) (12.0) (32.3) (25.4) 4 32 1 13 18 3 24 5 (20.5) (10.0) (36.1) (16.4) (4.5) (38.7) (18.5) 5 o r more 22 7 5 10 2 11 9 (23.9) (46.7) (27.8) (16.9) (7.7) (27.5) (34.6) T o t a l 577 118 186 273 71 253 253 (27 .8) (39 .1) (35 .0 ) (22 .0 ) (10.3) (33 . 0 ) (40.9) those with five or more children discontinued attendance. In the vocational courses 38.1 percent of those enrol lees with no children or who did not respond compared to 38.6 percent with one ch i ld , 27.8 percent with two children, 29.4 percent with three children, 36.1 per-cent with four children, and 27.8 percent with five or more children dropped out. Discontinuance in general courses was the lowest in each category in terms of the number of children, except for those with four. Of those enrol lees with no children or who did not respond 26.3 percent dropped out as did 21.5 percent of the group having one ch i ld , 17.6 percent of the enrol lees with two children, 18.9 percent with three, 16.4 percent with four, and 16.9 percent with five or more children. The chi square value of 11.07 obtained for the distribution of dropouts by number of children and course type shown in Table XIX is not signif icant at the .01 level . The null hypothesis of no s i g -nif icant difference is accepted. In courses having ten sessions or less 13.2 percent of the enrol lees with no children or who did not respond compared to 8.2 per-cent of those with one ch i ld , 6.3 percent with two children, 12.0 per-cent with three, 4.5 percent with four, and 7.7 percent of those with f ive or more children dropped out. In the eleven to twenty session courses 34.9 percent of the registrants with no children or who did not respond dropped out as did 32.3 percent with one child and 27.7 percentwith two, 32.3 percent with three, 38.7 percent with four, and 27.5 percent with five or more children. For the courses having more than twenty sessions 46.4 percent of those with no children or who did not respond, 3 8 . 5 percent of those with one ch i ld , 3 7 . 2 percent with two children, 2 5 . 4 percent with three, 1 8 . 5 percent with four, and 3-+.6 percent with five or more children discontinued attendance. The chi square of 1 1 . 2 0 obtained for the distr ibution of dropouts by number of children and course length shown in Table XIX is not signif icant at the . 0 1 level . The null hypothesis of no signif icant difference,there-fore, is accepted. Thus, there were no signif icant differences in the number of dropouts in regard to number of children by either course type or length. This factor merits further study, however, since more participants with no children dropped out than in any other division of this character ist ic . Furthermore, the lowest dropout figure occurred for those with four children. Years of School Completed Only small differences were observed in dropouts for a l l courses in terms of years of school completed. Of those with an eighth grade education or less 2 6 . 1 percent dropped out as did 2 7 . 9 percent of those having between nine and twelve years of schooling, 2 7 . 8 percent with one or two years of university, 2 8 . 4 percent with three to five years of university, 2 7 . 0 percent with one or two years of technical training, and 2 1 . 1 percent with three or four years of technical training In the academic course category 3 8 . 3 percent of the regis-trants with an eighth grade education or less and 3 9 . 5 percent of those with between nine and twelve years of schooling discontinued attendance. The percentage figures in al l other divisions of education in the TABLE XX DISTRIBUTION OF DROPOUTS BY YEARS OF SCHOOL COMPLETED BY COURSE CATEGORY AND COURSE LENGTH Years o f Al 1 10 sess i ons Over 20 School Courses Academ i c Vocat ional Genera 1 and l ess 11-20 sess ions sess i ons No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) 0-8 58 18 16 24 1 26 31 (26.1) (38.3) (25 .4) (21 .4) (1.8) (31.0) (38.3) 9-12 338 73 128 137 36 146 156 (27.9) (39.5) (37.6) (20.0) (9.0 (32.7) (42.5) 1-2 Un i ve rs i ty 32 4 11 17 7 14 11 (27.8) (40.0) (36.7) (22.7) (14.9) (35.9) (37.9) 3-5 Un i vers i ty 21 0 2 19 5 13 3 (28.4) (o) (28.6) (28.8) (15.6) (39 .4) (33.3) Post Graduate 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 (9.1) (100.0) (0) (0) (o) (o) (100.0) 1-2 Techn ica l 20 6 7 7 3 8 9 (27.0) (37.5) (58.3) (15.2) (9 .4 ) (57.0 (32.1) 3-4 Techn ica l 12 3 1 8 0 6 6 (21 .1) (27.3) (8.3) (23.5) (o) (42.9) (30.0) Not Known 95 13 21 61 19 40 36 (30.4) (4.19) (31.8) (28 .4) (19.6) (30.5) (42.9) Tota l 577 118 186 273 71 253 . 253 (27.8) (39.0 (35.0) (22.0) (10.3) (33.0) (4.09) 6! academic course category were based on l ess than ten dropouts . In the voca t iona l courses 25.4 percent w i th e igh t years of s choo l i ng or l ess compared to 37-6 percent w i th nine to twelve years of s c h o o l i n g and 36.7 percent w i th one or two years of u n i v e r s i t y dropped ou t . Of the enro l lees in general courses 21.4 percent w i th e igh th grade or l e s s , 20.0 percent w i th n ine to twelve grades, 22.7 percent of the p a r t i c i p a n t s w i th one or two years of u n i v e r s i t y , and 28.8 percent o f the group w i th three to f i v e years of u n i v e r s i t y d i scon t i nued a t tendance. The chi square va lue of 4.71 ob ta ined fo r the d i s t r i b u t i o n o f dropouts by years o f school completed and course type shown in Table XX is not s i g n i f i c a n t at the .01 l e v e l . The re fo re , the n u l l hypothes is of no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e is accep ted . In the a n a l y s i s o f dropouts by years of school completed and course length 9.1 percent of the enro l lees w i th nine to twelve years o f s c h o o l i n g in courses having ten sess ions or l e s s dropped ou t . A l l o ther percentages in t h i s course length category were based on l ess than ten d ropouts . In courses having between e leven and twenty sess ions t h i r t y - o n e percent of those w i th e igh t years or l ess as aga ins t 32.7 percent w i th between n ine and twelve years o f s c h o o l i n g , 35.9 percent w i th one or two years of u n i v e r s i t y , and 39.4 percent w i th three to f i v e years o f u n i v e r s i t y d id not p e r s i s t in a t tendance. For the courses having more than twenty sess ions 38.3 percent o f the r e g i s t r a n t s w i th e i g h t years o f s c h o o l i n g or l e s s compared to 42.5 percent w i th between n ine and twelve years and 37.9 percent w i th one or two years o f u n i -v e r s i t y dropped ou t . The ch i square of 9.98 ob ta ined f o r the d i s t r i b u t i o n of dropouts by years of school completed and course length shown in Table XX i s s i g n i f i c a n t at the .05 l e ve l but not at the .01 l e v e l . The nu l l hypothes is o f no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e is t he re fo re accep ted . Level o f educat ion is apparen t l y not a s i g n i f i c a n t f a c t o r in r e l a t i o n to p e r s i s t e n c e or d i scon t inuance of at tendance in the Surrey program e i t h e r by course type or l eng th . Occupat ion Housewives had the lowest number o f dropouts at 21.9 percent of any occupa t iona l group. Other groups w i th d i scon t inuance of l e s s than t h i r t y percent inc luded managerial w i th 25.0 p e r c e n t , p r o f e s s i o n a l and t e c h n i c a l w i th 26.5 pe rcen t , and craf tsmen w i th 28.6 pe rcen t . Two occupa t iona l groups had dropout f i g u r e s o f more than t h i r t y - f i v e pe r -cen t ; c l e r i c a l at 36.5 percent and pr imary at 4 6 . 2 pe rcen t . The o ther f i v e groups a l l had dropout f i g u r e s of between t h i r t y and t h i r t y - f i v e pe rcen t ; 30.4 percent in s a l e s , 33ol percent in s e r v i c e - r e c r e a t i o n , 33.8 percent in no o c c u p a t i o n , 34.7 percent in t ranspor ta t ion -commun i -c a t i o n , and 35.0 percent in l abou re r . Only those percentages based on ten or more dropouts w i l l be cons idered in the f o l l o w i n g a n a l y s i s . In the academic course category 32.6 percent of the house-wives dropped out as d id 38.9 percent o f the s e r v i c e - r e c r e a t i o n workers , 39.2 percent o f the l a b o u r e r s , 45.2 percent of the c l e r i c a l workers , and 52.0 percent of the t ranspor ta t ion -communica t ion workers . Drop-outs in the voca t i ona l course category inc luded 26.0 percent of those r e g i s t r a n t s in t ranspor ta t ion -communica t ion occupa t i ons , 31.6 percent TABLE XXI OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF DROPOUTS BY COURSE CATEGORY AND COURSE LENGTH Al 1 10 sess i ons Over 20 Occupat ion Courses Academ i c Vocat ional Genera 1 and 1 ess 11-20 sess ions sess i ons No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) Manager i a 1 9 1 5 3 2 4 3 (25.0) (100.0) (38.5) (13.6) (10.5) (30.8) (75.0) P r o f e s s i o n a l & Techn i ca1 40 9 6 25 7 17 16 (26.5) (56.3) (23.0 (22.9) (11.9) . (31.5) (42.1) C l e r i ca l 72 19 31 22 7 22 43 (36.5) (45.2) (43.7) (26.2) (11.5) (48.9) (47.3) Sa 1 es 17 6 6 5 0 6 11 (30.4) (40.0) (33.3) (21.7) (0) (35.3) (50.0) Serv ice & Recreat ion 46 14 14 18 1 21 24 (33.0 (38.9) (34.1) (29.0) (2.8) (47.7) (40.7) Transpor t & Com-mun i cat ion 33 13 13 7 2 11 20 (34.7) (52.0) (26.0) (35.0) (16.7) (29.7) (43.5) Pr imary 6 1 2 3 0 5 1 (46.2) (20.0) (100.0) (50.0) (0) (83.3) (16.7) Craftsmen 34 6 18 10 1 21 12 (?8.6) (30.0) (31.6) (23.8) (3.6) (36.2) (36.4) Labou rers 55 20 28 7 1 26 28 (35.0) (39.2) (33.3) (31.8) (9.1) (33.3) (41.2) Housewi ves 187 14 41 132 41 96 50 (21.9) (32.6) (39.0) (18.7) (10.8) (29.0 - (34.7) No Occupat ion 27 2 5 20 3 15 9 (33.8) (22.2) (27.8) (37.7) (11.5) (51.7) (36.0) No Known 51 13 17 21 6 9 36 (28.5) (33.3) (37.0) (22.3) (4:4.6) (16.4) (43.4) Total 577 118 186 273 71 253 253 (27.8) (39.0 (35.0) (22.0) (10.3) (33.0) (40.9) in c ra f t smen, 3 3 . 3 percent in l abou re r , 3 4 . 1 percent in s e r v i c e - r e c -r e a t i o n , 3 9 . 0 percent in housewi fe , and 4 -3.7 percent in c l e r i c a l . In the general course category on ly 1 8 . 7 percent o f the housewives d i s -cont inued at tendance compared to 2 2 . 9 percent in p r o f e s s i o n a l - t e c h n i c a l , 2 6 . 2 percent in c l e r i c a l , 2 9 . 0 percent o f those in s e r v i c e - r e c r e a t i o n , and 3 7 . 3 percent o f those w i th no occupa t i on . The chi square va lue of 2 2 . 7 2 ob ta ined fo r the occupat iona l d i s t r i b u t i o n by course type shown in Table XXI is s i g n i f i c a n t a t the . 0 1 l e v e l . There fo re , the n u l l hypothes is of no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e is r e j e c t e d . There was a tendency fo r enro l lees drawn from c e r t a i n o c c u -pa t i ona l groups to drop out in d i s p r o p o r t i o n a t e numbers from c e r t a i n types of cou rses . The exact nature of t h i s behav io r , however, is d i f f i c u l t to determine. More housewives d i scon t i nued at tendance in voca t i ona l courses than was expec ted , wh i l e l ess housewives than expected dropped out o f academic and general cou rses . S i m i l a r d i s -c repanc ies in d i scon t i nuance behavior were noted in o ther occupat iona l d i v i s i o n s . The la rge number o f occupa t iona l c l a s s i f i c a t i o n s used con-t r i b u t e d to the d i f f i c u l t y in i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of these d a t a . In the a n a l y s i s by course length the on ly occupa t iona l d i v i s i o n con ta i n i ng more than ten dropouts in the category of courses having ten sess ions or l ess was housewives w i t h 1 0 . 8 percent d i s con t i nuance . For the e leven to twenty s e s s i o n courses the lowest dropout f i g u r e at 2 7 . 7 percent was in the t ranspor ta t ion -commun ica t ion occupa t iona l c l a s s and t h i s was fo l l owed in ascending order by housewives at 2 9 . 1 pe rcen t , p r o f e s s i o n a l and t e c h n i c a l w i th 3 1 . 5 pe rcen t , labourers w i th 3 3 . 3 p e r -cen t , craf tsmen at 3 6 . 2 pe rcen t , s e r v i c e and r e c r e a t i o n at 4 7 . 7 pe rcen t , c l e r i c a l at 48.9 pe rcen t , and no occupat ion w i th 51.7 pe rcen t . In courses having more than twenty sess ions 3 4 . 7 percent of the house-wives dropped out which was fo l l owed by 36.4 percent o f the c ra f t smen, 40.7 percent in s e r v i c e and r e c r e a t i o n , 41.2 percent o f the l a b o u r e r s , 43.5 percent in t r a n s p o r t a t i o n and communicat ion, 4 7 . 3 percent in c l e r i c a l , and f i f t y percent o f those in s a l e s o c c u p a t i o n s . The ch i square va lue of 9 . 7 8 ob ta ined f o r the occupa t iona l d i s t r i b u t i o n o f dropouts by course length shown in Table XXI is not s i g n i f i c a n t at the .01 l e v e l , t h e r e f o r e , the nu l l hypothes is o f no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e is accep ted . There are no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e s in the number of dropouts by occupa t ion by course l e n g t h . Years Res ident in the D i s t r i c t S l i g h t d i f f e r e n c e s were observed in the number of dropouts in terms of the number of years res iden t in the d i s t r i c t . Of those enro l lees who had res ided in the d i s t r i c t f o r two years or l ess 3 3 . 2 percent dropped out wh i l e 27.1 percent who had res ided in the d i s t r i c t f o r three o r four years and 2 6 . 2 percent who had res ided in the d i s t r i c t f o r f i v e or more years d i d not p e r s i s t in a t tendance. Thus, there was a tendency f o r those p a r t i c i p a n t s who had res ided in Surrey the longest to p e r s i s t in at tendance wh i le the newer res iden ts d i scon t i nued more f r e q u e n t l y . In the academic course category 46.4 percent o f those w i th two years or l ess compared to 2 9 . 2 percent w i th three or four years and TABLE XXII DISTRIBUTION OF DROPOUTS BY NUMBER OF YEARS RESIDENT IN THE DISTRICT BY COURSE CATEGORY AND COURSE LENGTH Years Res i dent Al 1 Courses No. (%) Academ i c No. (%) Vocat ional No. (%) General No. (%) . 10 sess ions and less No. (%) 1.1-20 sess i ons No. (7o) Over 2 0 sess ions No. (%) 0 - 2 104 2 6 3 4 4 4 12 3 3 5 9 ( 3 3 . 2 ) (46 .4) ( 3 7 . 4 ) ( 2 6 . 5 ) ( 1 3 . 5 ) ( 3 0 . 6 ) ( 5 0 . 9 ) 3 - 4 51 7 . 13 31 5 31 15 ( 2 7.0 ( 2 9 . 2 ) ( 3 4 . 2 ) (24 .6) ( 7 . 4 ) ( 4 3 . 0 ( 3 1 . 3 ) 5 or more 3 0 7 64 104 139 3 7 147 123 ( 2 6 . 2 ) (41 .8) ( 3 3 . 9 ) ( 1 9 . 5 ) ( 9.0 ( 3 2 . 5 ) ( 3 9 . 2 ) Not Known 115 21 3 5 5 9 17 42 5 6 . ( 2 8 . 7 ) ( 3 0 . 4 ) ( 3 6 . 8 ) (24 .9) ( 1 3 . 4 ) ( 3 1 . 6 ) ( 3 9 . 7 ) Tota l 5 7 7 118 186 2 7 3 71 2 5 3 2 5 3 ( 2 7 . 8 ) ( 3 9.0 ( 3 5 . 0 ) ( 2 2 . 0 ) (10 .3) ( 3 3 . 0 ) (40 .9) 41 .8 percent w i th f i v e or more years in the d i s t r i c t dropped ou t . For the voca t i ona l courses 3 7 . 4 percent of those w i th two years or l ess as aga ins t 3 4 . 2 percent w i th three or four years and 3 3 . 9 percent w i th f i v e or more years in the d i s t r i c t d i scon t i nued a t tendance. The gen-e r a l course category had the lowest d i scon t inuance in the three d i v i -s ions of years r e s i d e n t ; 2 6 . 5 percent in the two years or l e s s , 24 . 6 percent in the three and four year and 1 9 . 5 percent in the f i v e years and over d i v i s i o n . The ch i square of 3 . 2 7 f o r the years res iden t d i s -t r i b u t i o n of dropouts by course type shown in Table XXII is not s i g -n i f i c a n t at the . 0 1 l e v e l . The n u l l hypothes is of no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e is t he re fo re accep ted . Years res iden t in the d i s t r i c t appears not to be a s i g n i f i c a n t f a c t o r in r e l a t i o n to p e r s i s t e n c e or d i scon t i nuance of at tendance by course t ype . Greater d i f f e r e n c e s were observed , however, in the a n a l y s i s o f t h i s c h a r a c t e r i s t i c by course l eng th . In courses having ten sess ions o r l ess 1 3 . 5 percent of those l i v i n g in the d i s t r i c t f o r two years or l ess as aga ins t 7 . 4 percent of the three to four year group and 9 .1 percent o f the f i v e years and over group d i scon t i nued a t tendance. For the e leven to twenty sess ion courses 3 0 . 6 percent of those p a r t i c i p a n t s who had res ided in Surrey f o r two years or l ess as aga ins t 4 3 . 1 percent in the three to four year group and 3 2 . 5 percent in the f i v e years and over group dropped ou t . However, in courses having more than twenty sess ions 5 0 . 9 percent o f those r e s i d i n g in the d i s t r i c t f o r two years or l ess compared to 3 1 . 3 percent in the three to four year group and 3 9 . 2 percent of the f i v e years or more group dropped ou t . The ch i square value of 9 . 9 8 ob ta ined fo r the years res iden t d i s t r i b u t i o n by course length shown in Table XXII is s i g n i f i c a n t at the . 0 5 l e ve l but not at the . 0 1 l e v e l , t h e r e f o r e , the n u l l hypothes is o f no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e is accep ted . A l though there was a s l i g h t tendency f o r those new to the d i s t r i c t to drop out more, t h i s tendency is not s i g -n i f i c a n t at the l eve l demanded in t h i s s tudy . P rev ious At tendance at Adu l t Educat ion Courses The lowest dropout f i g u r e f o r a l l courses in regard to p rev ious at tendance at adu l t educat ion courses was 2 1 . 2 percent which was a t t a i n e d by those r e g i s t r a n t s who had at tended o ther courses in Surrey w i t h i n the l a s t three y e a r s . Twenty-s ix percent who had a t -tended courses elsewhere in the l a s t three years dropped out as d i d 3 1 . 6 percent w i th no p rev ious a t tendance. In the academic course category 42.1 percent of those w i th no p rev ious at tendance dropped out w h i l e 3 5 . 7 percent who had at tended e lsewhere and 3 1 . 5 percent who had at tended in Surrey d id not p e r s i s t in a t tendance. In the voca t i ona l courses 4 5 . 8 percent o f the enro l lees w i th no p rev ious at tendance d i scon t i nued compared to 32 .3 percent o f those who had at tended in Surrey and 2 3 . 5 percent of those who had at tended e lsewhere . Dropouts in the general course category inc luded 2 2 . 3 percent w i th no prev ious a t tendance, 24 . 5 percent o f the enro l lees who had at tended e lsewhere , and 1 7 . 0 percent who had at tended in Sur rey . The ch i square va lue of 1 0 . 8 3 f o r the prev ious at tendance d i s t r i b u t i o n by course type shown in Table XXII I is s i g n i f i c a n t at the . 0 5 l eve l TABLE XXI I I DISTRIBUTION OF DROPOUTS BY PREVIOUS ATTENDANCE AT ADULT EDUCATION COURSES BY COURSE CATEGORY AND COURSE LENGTH Prev ious Attendance Al 1 Courses No. (%) Academic No. (7o) Vocat iona l No. (%) General No. (%) 10 sess ions and l ess No. (7o) 11-20 sess ions No. (%) Over 20 sess ions No. (%) None 333 69 127 137 33 151 . 149 ( 3 1 . 6 ) (42.1) (45.8) (22.3) (9.6) (40.5) (44.0) In Surrey 88 17 20 51 14 40 34 . (21.2) (31.5) ( 3 2 . 3 ) ( 1 7 . 0 ) (8.4) (27.6) (32.4) Elsewhere 68 15 19 34 7 33 28 ( 2 6 . 0 ) (35.7) (23.5) (24.5) (8.0) (37.5) ( 3 2 . 2 ) Not Known 88 17 20 51 . 17 . 29 42 (25.7) (40.5) (18.0) (26.8) (17.9) (18.1) (47.7) Tota l 5 7 7 118 186 2 7 3 71 2 5 3 2 5 3 ( 2 7 . 8 ) ( 3 9 . 1 ) ( 3 5 . 0 ) ( 2 2 . 0 ) (10 .3) ( 3 3 . 0 ) (40 . 9 ) but not at the .01 leve l . Therefore, the null hypothesis of no s i g -nif icant difference is accepted. Previous attendance by course type has no relation to discontinuance in the Surrey program at the con-fidence level demanded. In the courses having ten sessions or less 9.6 percent of the participants with no previous attendance at adult education courses within the last three years dropped out compared to 8.4 per-cent who had attended in Surrey and 8.0 percent who had attended else-where. In the eleven to twenty session courses 40 .5 percent of the enrol lees with no previous attendance discontinued compared to 37.5 percent of the group who had attended elsewhere and 27.6 percent who had attended in Surrey. For the courses having more than twenty sessions 44.0 percent of the enrol lees with no previous attendance dropped out while 32.4 percent who had attended in Surrey and 32.2 percent who had attended elsewhere did not persist in attendance. The chi square value of 7.95 obtained for the previous attendance distr ibution of dropouts by course length shown in Table XXI11 is not signif icant at the .01 level . The null hypothesis of no signif icant difference is accepted. Previous attendance at other adult education courses by course length, therefore,.has no relation to discontinuance or persist -ence of attendance. Travel Time to Class Only sl ight differences were observed in the total dropouts by divisions of travel time to c lass . Of those enrol lees travell ing l e ss than ten minutes 29.3 percent d i scon t i nued compared to 27.4 pe r -cent in the ten to n ineteen minute d i v i s i o n , 26.7 percent in the twenty to twenty-n ine minute d i v i s i o n , and 29.7 percent in the t h i r t y to t h i r t y - n i n e minute d i v i s i o n . Only e igh t o f the dropouts t r a v e l l e d more than f o r t y minutes to a t tend c l a s s . In the academic course category 4-3.8 percent of the l e s s than ten minute group dropped out compared to 38.9 percent in the ten to n ineteen minute group, 42.6 percent in the twenty to twenty-n ine minute group, and 36.4 percent in the t h i r t y to t h i r t y - n i n e minute group. For the voca t i ona l courses 35.1 percent o f the l ess than ten minute t r a v e l -l e r s , 34.1 percent o f the ten to n ineteen minute t r a v e l l e r s , 34.7 p e r -cent o f the twenty to twenty-n ine minute t r a v e l l e r s , and 42.6 percent of the t h i r t y to t h i r t y - n i n e minute t r a v e l l e r s d i scon t i nued a t tendance. The general course category had the lowest dropout f i g u r e in each d i v i -s ion o f t r ave l t ime; 25.1 percent in the l ess than ten minute d i v i s i o n , 21.7 percent in the ten to n ineteen minute group, 17.6 percent in the twenty to twenty-n ine minute group, and 20.3 percent in the t h i r t y to t h i r t y \u00C2\u00AB n i n e minute d i v i s i o n . The chi square of 6.14 f o r the t r ave l t ime d i s t r i b u t i o n by course type shown in Table XXIV is not s i g n i f i c a n t at the .01 l e v e l . The n u l l hypothes is of no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e is t he re fo re accep ted . In the courses having ten sess ions or l ess 8.7 percent of the enro l lees who t r a v e l l e d l ess than ten minutes , 10.9 percent who t r a v e l l e d ten to n ineteen minu tes , 8.7 percent who t r a v e l l e d twenty to twenty-n ine minutes , and 14.0 percent who t r a v e l l e d t h i r t y to t h i r t y -TABLE XXIV D1STR1 BUT 1 ON OF DROPOUTS BY TRAVEL TIME TO CLASS BY COURSE CATEGORY AND COURSE LENGTH, , Trave l Al 1 10 sess ions Over 2 0 Time Cou rses Academ i c Vocat iona1 Genera 1 and l ess 11- - 2 0 sess i ons sess ions No. No. No. No. No. . No. No, - (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) 0 - 9 m in . 115 21 2 6 6 8 13 64 3 8 ( 2 9 . 3 ) ( 4 3 . 8 ) ( 3 5 . 0 ( 2 5.0 ( 8 . 7 ) (42.1) (41.3) 1 0 - 1 9 min. 3 2 4 6 8 103 153 . 4 3 132 149 ( 2 7 . 4 ) ( 3 8 . 9 ) ( 3 4 . 1 ) ( 2 1 . 7 ) . ( 1 0 . 9 ) ( 3 2 . 0 ) ( 3 9 . 9 ) 2 0 - 2 9 min. 84 2 0 3 4 3 0 ' 8 3 4 42 ( 2 6 . 7 ) C+2.6) ( 3 4 . 7 ) ( 1 7 . 6 ) ( 8 . 7 ) ( 2 6 . 8 ) ( 4 3 . 8 ) 3 0 = 3 9 min. 4 4 8 2 0 16 6 17 21 ( 2 9 . 7 ) ( 3 6 . 4 ) (42.6) ( 2 0 . 3 ) (14.0) ( 2 7 . 0 ) ( 5 0 . 0 ) 40\u00C2\u00AB49 m in . 6 0 3 3 0 4 2 ( 2 5 . 0 ) (o) ( 3 3 . 3 ) (42.9) (o) ( 4 4 . 4 ) ( 1 8 . 2 ) 5 0 + m in . 2 1 0 1 0 1 1 ( 3 3 . 0 ) ( 5 0 . 0 ) ( 0 ) ( 3 3 . 3 ) (o) ( 1 0 0 . 0 ) ( 3 3 . 3 ) Not Known 2 0 0 2 1 1 0 ( 2 8 . 6 ) (o) (o) ( 2 8 . 6 ) ( 2 5 . 0 ) ( 1 0 0 . 0 ) ( 0 ) . Tota l 5 7 7 118 186 273 . 71 . 2 5 3 2 5 3 ( 2 7 . 8 ) (39.D ( 3 5 . 0 ) ( 2 2 . 0 ) 0 . 0 . 3 ) ( 3 3 . 0 ) (40.9) nine minutes dropped o u t . For the e leven to twenty sess ion courses 42.1 percent who t r a v e l l e d ten minutes or l ess to a t tend c l a s s d i s -cont inued compared to 32.0 percent of those in the ten to n ineteen minute group, 26.8 percent in the twenty to twenty-n ine minute group, and 27.0 percent in the t h i r t y to t h i r t y - n i n e minute group. In the courses having more than twenty sess ions 41.3 percent of the enro l lees t r a v e l l i n g l e s s than ten m inu tes , 39.9 percent t r a v e l l i n g ten to n i n e -teen minu tes , 43.8 percent t r a v e l l i n g twenty to twenty-n ine minutes , and 50.0 percent t r a v e l l i n g t h i r t y to t h i r t y - n i n e minutes d i scon t i nued a t tendance. The ch i square va lue of 5.16 f o r the t r a v e l t ime d i s -t r i b u t i o n of dropouts by course length shown in Table XXIV is not s i g n i f i c a n t at the ,01 l e v e l . The re fo re , the nu l l hypothes is of no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e is accep ted . Travel t ime by course type or length is apparen t l y not a s i g n i f i c a n t f a c t o r i n f l u e n c i n g p e r s i s t e n c e or d i scon t inuance of at tendance in Sur rey . I I SUMMARY Three of the soc io-economic c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s tes ted showed s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e s between p e r s i s t e n t a t tenders and dropouts at the .01 l e v e l , by course type ; age , ma r i t a l s t a t u s , and o c c u p a t i o n . At the .05 s i g n i f i c a n c e leve l p rev ious at tendance at adu l t educat ion courses by course length and m a r i t a l s t a t u s , years of school completed, and years res iden t in the d i s t r i c t by course type showed s i g n i f i c a n t 82 d i f f e r e n c e s between those who p e r s i s t e d and those who d i scon t i nued a t tendance. No s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e s were noted by course type or length f o r sex , number o f c h i l d r e n , or t r a v e l time to c l a s s . Chapter S ix ATTENDANCE PATTERNS This chapter w i l l desc r i be the at tendance pa t te rns in the Surrey p u b l i c adu l t n igh t school program. Average d a i l y at tendance fo r courses o f d i f f e r e n t lengths w i l l be compared to the average d a i l y at tendance fo r a l l cou rses . In a d d i t i o n academic, v o c a t i o n a l , and general courses w i l l be compared w i th each o t h e r . I ATTENDANCE PATTERNS BY COURSE LENGTH Since there were twenty- four d i f f e r e n t course lengths the grouping by length used fo r the a n a l y s i s o f p a r t i c i p a n t s and dropouts in Chapters Four and F i ve was not cons idered adequate fo r an a n a l y s i s of at tendance p a t t e r n s , t h e r e f o r e , the average d a i l y at tendance (ADA) percentages f o r courses of each d i f f e r e n t length were compared to the average d a i l y at tendance percentage fo r a l l cou rses . The n i n e t y - e i g h t courses used in the a n a l y s i s had a p o s s i b l e aggregate at tendance of 3 8 , 4 3 6 and an ac tua l aggregate at tendance of 24 ,3.97 f o r an average d a i l y at tendance of 6 3 . 4 7 pe rcen t . Th i s ADA percentage fo r a l l courses was the bas i s f o r comparisons w i th courses of d i f f e r e n t l eng th . The c a l c u l a t i o n o f c r i t i c a l r a t i o s fo r each com-pa r i son is shown in Table XXV.-There was one course in the Surrey program that had three s e s s i o n s . The ADA fo r t h i s course was 9 0 . 0 0 and the Z va lue or c r i t i -ca l r a t i o f o r the comparison o f t h i s course w i th a l l courses was . 5 4 9 , a va lue which i s s i g n i f i c a n t at the . 6 l e v e l . This g ives an i n d i c a t i o n tha t the at tendance in the three sess ion course was somewhat be t t e r than in a l l cou rses . S ix courses or 6 . 1 2 percent were f i v e sess ions in l eng th . A c r i t i c a l r a t i o of . 9 7 2 was computed and t h i s i s s i g n i f i c a n t at the . 4 l e v e l . Three courses l as ted f o r s i x s e s s i o n s ; a c r i t i c a l r a t i o of . 8 6 7 was obta ined which is s i g n i f i c a n t at the . 4 l e v e l . Thus, a t -tendance in f i v e and s i x s e s s i o n courses appears to have been s i g -n i f i c a n t l y be t t e r than at tendance in a l l cou rses . One course l as ted f o r e i gh t sess ions w i t h a c r i t i c a l r a t i o of . 5 4 9 which is s i g n i f i c a n t a t the . 6 l e v e l . This i nd i ca tes that e igh t sess ion courses were s l i g h t l y supe r i o r to a l l courses in terms of a t tendance. The h ighes t c r i t i c a l r a t i o o f I . 6 9 6 was obta ined fo r the 85 TABLE XXV CRITICAL RATIOS FOR AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE PERCENTAGES BY COURSE LENGTH Length P o s s i b l e Ac tua l o f Aggre- Aggre-Course No. % gate gate in o f o f A t t e n d - A t t e n d -Sess ions Courses Courses ance ance 3 1 1.02 30 27 5 6 6.12 530 441 6 3 3.06 498 437 8 1 1.02 80 72 10 19 19.39 3640 3020 11 2 2.04 374 295 12 1 1.02 60 35 14 2 2.04 434 345 15 3 3.06 705 527 16 2 2.04 752 571 20 29 29.60 10240 6921 21 1 1.02 504 270 22 3 3.06 1056 547 24 2 2.04 1080 773 25 1 1.02 425 255 29 1 1.02 377 231 33 1 1.02 528 255 3k 6 6.12 4828 2504 35 3 3.06 1820 1053 36 1 1.02 612 280 38 1 1.02 1482 629 39 2 2.04 1950 1212 kk 2 2.04 2156 1261 k5 5 5.10 4275 2436 Al 1 Courses 98 100.00 38436 24397 D i f f . Z S i gn i ' ADA of or i canes % ADA % P s p r p 2 C R . Lev< 90.00 26.53 63.7 48.3 .549 .6 83.21 19.74 64.6 20.3 .972 .4 87.75 24.28 64.2 28.0 .867 .4 90.00 26.53 63.7 48.3 .549 .6 82.97 19.50 66.7 11.5 1.696 .1 78.88 15.41 63.7 34.3 .449 .7 58.33 5.14 63.4 48.4 .106 -79.49 16.02 63.8 34.3 .467 .7 79.50 16.03 64.0 28.0 .573 .6 75.93 12.46 63.7 34.3 .363 .8 67.59 4.12 64.4 9.6 .429 .7 53.57 9.90 63.4 48.4 .205 .9 51.80 11.67 63.2 28.1 .415 .7 71.57 8.10 63.7 34.3 .236 .9 60.00 3.47 63.5 48.4 .072 61.27 2.20 63.5 48.4 .045 -48.30 15.17 63.3 49.6 .306 .8 51.86 11.61 62.8 20.5 .566 .6 57.86 5.61 63.3 28.1 .200 .9 45.75 17.72 63.3 49.6 .357 .8 42.44 21.03 63.3 49.6 .424 .7 62.15 1.32 63.5 34.4 .038 -58.49 4.98 63.4 34.4 .145 .9 56.98 6.49 63.2 22.1 .294 .8 63.47 -nineteen courses of ten sess ions in l eng th . The ADA fo r these courses was 82.97 percent and was based on p o s s i b l e aggregate at tendance of 3,640 and an ac tua l aggregate at tendance of 3>020. The c r i t i c a l r a t i o was s i g n i f i c a n t at the .1 l e v e l , i n d i c a t i n g that ten s e s s i o n courses were markedly s u p e r i o r to a l l courses in terms of average d a i l y a t -tendance. Two courses l as ted e leven sess ions and these had a c r i t i c a l r a t i o of .449 which is s i g n i f i c a n t at the .7 l e v e l . Thus, e leven s e s s i o n courses had a s l i g h t l y be t te r average d a i l y at tendance than a l l cou rses . For the one course of twelve sess ions a c r i t i c a l r a t i o o f .106 was obta ined which is not s i g n i f i c a n t a t any l e v e l . The twelve s e s s i o n cou rse , t h e r e f o r e , is not s i g n i f i c a n t l y d i f f e r e n t from a l l courses i n s o f a r as at tendance is concerned. Two courses of four teen sess ions had an ADA of 79.49 pe rcen t . The c r i t i c a l r a t i o o f .467 &s s i g n i f i c a n t at the .7 l e v e l , i n d i c a t i n g a s l i g h t s u p e r i o r i t y f o r four teen sess ion courses over a l l cou rses . The c r i t i c a l r a t i o of .573 ob ta ined fo r the three courses l a s t i n g f i f t e e n sess ions i s s i g n i f i c a n t at the .6 l e v e l . Th is serves as an i n d i c a t o r that courses of f i f t e e n sess ions were s l i g h t l y be t t e r than a l l courses in terms o f average d a i l y a t tendance. Two courses having s i x t e e n sess ions had an ADA of 75.93 pe rcen t . A c r i t i c a l r a t i o o f .363 was computed which is s i g n i f i c a n t a t the .8 l e v e l . Th is would suggest that s i x t een sess ion courses are not s i g n i f i c a n t l y d i f f e r e n t in at tendance from a l l cou rses . There were twenty-n ine courses l a s t i n g twenty sess ions which was 29.6 percent of the t o t a l . An ac tua l aggregate at tendance of 6,921 and a p o s s i b l e aggregate at tendance of 10,240 r e s u l t e d in an ADA of 67.59 p e r c e n t . The c r i t i c a l r a t i o obta ined was .429 which is s i g n i f i -cant at the .7 l e v e l . Thus, the ADA fo r twenty sess ion courses is s i m i l a r to the ADA fo r a l l cou rses . One course had twenty-one sess ions w i th a c r i t i c a l r a t i o o f .205 and a s i g n i f i c a n c e leve l of . 9 . There were three courses having twenty-two sess ions which r e s u l t e d in a c r i t i c a l r a t i o of .415 and a .7 s i g n i f i c a n c e l e v e l . For the two courses of twenty - four sess ions a c r i t i c a l r a t i o of .236 was ob ta ined which i s s i g n i f i c a n t a t . t h e . 9 l e v e l . One course o f t w e n t y - f i v e sess ions and one of twenty-n ine sess ions produced c r i t i c a l r a t i o s of .072 and .045 r e s p e c t i v e l y ; n e i t h e r o f these va lues is s i g n i f i c a n t at any l e v e l . The average d a i l y a t -tendance fo r each course length between twenty-one and twenty-n ine s e s s i o n s , t h e r e f o r e , was not s i g n i f i c a n t l y d i f f e r e n t from the ADA f o r al1 cou rses . For one course that l a s ted f o r t h i r t y - t h r e e sess ions a c r i t i c a l r a t i o of .306 was computed which is s i g n i f i c a n t at the .8 l e v e l . This i n d i c a t e s very l i t t l e d i f f e r e n c e between the t h i r t y - t h r e e sess ion course and a l l cou rses . S ix courses l a s t i n g f o r t h i r t y - f o u r sess ions r e s u l t e d , in a c r i t i c a l r a t i o of .566 which i s s i g n i f i c a n t at the .6 l e v e l . In terms of a t tendance , t h e r e f o r e , the t h i r t y - f o u r sess ion courses were i n f e r i o r to a l l cou rses . For three courses of t h i r t y - f i v e sess ions an ADA of 57.86 was o b t a i n e d . The c r i t i c a l r a t i o was .200 which i s s i g n i f i c a n t at the .9 l e v e l . Thus, there was very l i t t l e d i f f e r e n c e between the ADA fo r t h i r t y - f i v e sess ion courses and the ADA fo r a l l cou rses . One course o f t h i r t y - s i x sess ions and one of t h i r t y - e i g h t sess ions y i e l d e d c r i t i c a l r a t i o s of .357 and .424 which are s i g n i f i c a n t at the .8 and .7 l e v e l s r e s p e c t i v e l y . For the two courses l a s t i n g t h i r t y - n i n e sess ions a c r i t i c a l r a t i o of .038 was obta ined which i s not s i g n i f i c a n t a t any l e v e l . For these three course l eng ths , then , there was l i t t l e d i f f e r e n c e when compared to a l l cou rses . Two courses l a s t i n g f o r f o r t y - f o u r sess ions had an ADA o f 58.4-9 pe rcen t . A c r i t i c a l r a t i o of .14-5 was obta ined which is s i g -n i f i c a n t at the .9 l e v e l . There were f i v e courses w i th f o r t y - f i v e s e s s i o n s ; the ADA of 56.98 percent f o r these courses resu l t ed in a c r i t i c a l r a t i o of .294 which is s i g n i f i c a n t at the .8 l e v e l . Thus, there were on ly smal l d i f f e r e n c e s between the ADA percent f o r a l l courses and the ADA percent f o r for t^y- four and f o r t y - f i v e sess ion cou rses . I I ATTENDANCE PATTERNS BY COURSE TYPE The n i n e t y - e i g h t courses used in the a n a l y s i s o f at tendance pa t te rns had an average length o f 20.04 s e s s i o n s . The four teen a c a -demic courses which was 14.28 percent of the t o t a l had an average length of 34.57 sess ions and a range of from twenty-n ine to t h i r t y - n i n e s e s s i o n s . T h i r t y voca t i ona l courses formed 30.60 percent of the t o t a l and had an average length of 22.60 s e s s i o n s . The sho r tes t voca t i ona l course was three sess ions wh i le the longest l a s ted f o r f o r t y - f i v e s e s s i o n s . F i f t y -four general courses formed 55.11 percent of the t o t a l w i th an average length of 14.85 sess ions and a range o f from f i v e to t h i r t y - n i n e s e s -s i o n s . The d i s t r i b u t i on ,o f lengths of courses by course type is shown in Table XXVI. TABLE XXVI DISTRIBUTION OF LENGTH OF COURSES BY COURSE TYPE Course Type Length o f Number Percent Course in Sess ions of Courses of Courses Academic 29. 1 1,02 33 1 U 0 2 34 6 6 . 1 2 35 3 3 . 0 6 36 1 1.02 38 1 1.02 3 9 -1 1.02 Sub-Tota l ]k 1 4 . 2 8 Vocat iona l S u b t o t a l 3 1 1.02 10 6 6 . 1 2 14 2 2 . 0 4 15 3 3 . 0 6 20 8 8.16 21 1 1.02 24 2 2 . 0 4 44 2 2 . 0 4 45 _5_ 5 . 1 0 1 0 3 0 . 6 0 General 5 6 8 10 11 \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 12 16 20 22 25 39 Sub-Total Tota l 6 6.12 3 3.06 1 1.02 13 13.27 2 2 .04 1 1.02 2 2 .04 21 21.44 3 3.06 1 1.02 1 1.02 54 55.11 98 100.00 91 The c r i t i c a l r a t i o procedure used fo r comparing average d a i l y at tendance fo r courses of d i f f e r e n t lengths was a l s o used f o r comparing academic to v o c a t i o n a l , academic to g e n e r a l , and voca t i ona l to general course c a t e g o r i e s . TABLE XXVI I COMPARISON OF AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE PERCENTAGES BETWEEN ACADEMIC AND VOCATIONAL COURSES Poss i b l e Ac tua l Aggre - Aggre-gate gate D i f f , Course No. o f A t t e n d - A t t e n d - ADA of Type Courses Courses ance ance % ADA or P SP|\"P2 C ? R * Si gn i f-i cance Level Academic 14 14.28 10154 5369 52.88 Vocat iona1 1 0 . 7 6 6 0 . 2 1 5 . 5 . 6 9 4 3 0 3 0 . 6 0 12824 8161 63.64 . 5 The c a l c u l a t i o n o f the c r i t i c a l r a t i o f o r the academic to voca t i ona l comparison is shown in Table XXVI I. The four teen academic courses had a p o s s i b l e aggregate at tendance of 10,154 and an ac tua l aggregate at tendance of 5\u00C2\u00BB369 f o r an average d a i l y at tendance of 5 2 . 8 8 pe rcen t . The t h i r t y voca t iona l courses had a p o s s i b l e aggregate a t t e n d -ance of 12,824 and an ac tua l aggregate at tendance of 8 , l 6 l f o r an average d a i l y at tendance of 63.64 pe rcen t . The d i f f e r e n c e between the academic 92 and voca t i ona l ADA percentages was 1 0 . 7 6 which r e s u l t e d in a c r i t i c a l r a t i o o f . 6 9 4 which i s s i g n i f i c a n t at the . 5 l e v e l . Thus, there i s a reasonable degree of c e r t a i n t y that at tendance in voca t iona l courses was h igher than in academic cou rses . TABLE XXVI11 COMPARISON OF AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE PERCENTAGES BETWEEN ACADEMIC AND GENERAL COURSES P o s s i b l e Ac tua l Aggre- Aggre-gate gate D i f f . Z S i g n i f -Course No. o f % of A t t e n d - A t t e n d - ADA of or icanc Type Courses Courses ance ance % ADA P s p . - p \u00E2\u0080\u009E C.R. Leve Academic 14 1 4 . 2 8 1 0 1 5 4 5 3 6 9 5 2 . 8 8 17 .42 6 . 6 7 14.2 1 . 2 2 7 . 3 General 5 4 55 .11 1 5 4 5 8 1 0 8 6 7 7 0 . 3 0 Table XXVIII i l l u s t r a t e s the comparison of average d a i l y a t -tendance between academic and general cou rses . The f i f t y - f o u r general courses had a p o s s i b l e aggregate at tendance of 15>458 and an ac tua l aggregate at tendance of 10,867 fo r an average d a i l y at tendance of 70.30 pe rcen t . The d i f f e r e n c e between the academic and general course c a t e -go r ies was 17.42 pe rcen t . The c r i t i c a l r a t i o ob ta ined was 1.227 which is s i g n i f i c a n t at the .3 l e v e l . Th is g ives a f a i r l y s t rong i n d i c a t i o n that general courses had a s i g n i f i c a n t l y h igher average d a i l y at tendance 93 than academic cou rses . Much o f the d i f f e r e n c e may be accounted f o r , however, by the f ac t that academic courses were on the whole much longer than the general cou rses . ': TABLE XXIX COMPARISON OF AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE PERCENTAGES BETWEEN VOCATIONAL AND GENERAL COURSES P o s s i b l e Ac tua l Aggre - Aggre-gate gate D i f f . Z S i g n i f -Course No. o f % of A t t e n d - A t t e n d - ADA of or icance Type Courses Courses ance ance % ADA P sp^-p^ C.l R. Level Vocat i o n -al 30 30.60 .12824 8161 63.64 6.66 67.9 10.4 .640 .6 General 54 55.11 15458 10867 70.30 The comparison between voca t i ona l and general courses is i l l u s t r a t e d in Table XXIX. The d i f f e r e n c e between the voca t i ona l and general average d a i l y at tendances was 6.66. The c r i t i c a l r a t i o was .640 which, i s s i g n i f i c a n t at the .6 l e v e l . S ince t h i s is a r e l a t i v e l y low l eve l o f s i g n i f i c a n c e there was not an app rec i ab l e d i f f e r e n c e between voca t i ona l and general courses in terms of average d a i l y a t tendance. When the average d a i l y at tendance percentages were c a l c u l a t e d f o r each sess ion by course type a t rend of general d e c l i n e was then 94 noted . For a l l courses the peak at tendance of 8 6 . 5 3 percent was reached at the second s e s s i o n . At tendance dropped below e igh ty pe r -cent at the f i f t h sess ion .and by the ten th s e s s i o n i t was below seventy pe rcen t . By the twe l f t h sess ion the at tendance fo r a l l courses dropped below s i x t y pe rcen t . Fo l l ow ing the e leven th sess ion the ra te o f d e c l i n e slowed somewhat and the average d a i l y at tendance d id not drop below f i f t y percent u n t i l the t w e n t y - t h i r d s e s s i o n . The ADA dropped below f o r t y percent at the t w e n t y - s i x t h s e s s i o n , but returned to 4-7.15 pe r -cent at the twenty -e igh th s e s s i o n . The at tendance dropped below f o r t y percent aga in at the t h i r t y - f i r s t sess ion but re turned to above f o r t y percent f o r the next two s e s s i o n s . In the t h i r t y - f o u r t h , t h i r t y -f i f t h , t h i r t y - e i g h t h , and f o r t y - t h i r d sess ions the at tendance dropped in to the t h i r t y percent range but in the o ther sess ions between t h i r t y -three and f o r t y - f i v e i t remained above f o r t y pe rcen t . The low at tendance was a t t a i n e d in sess ion f o r t y - t h r e e at 3 4 . 0 3 pe rcen t . Thus, between the peak at the second sess ion and the low a t the f o r t y - t h i r d the a t -tendance d e c l i n e d by 5 2 . 5 0 pe rcen t . c The peak at tendance of 7 8 . 0 8 percent in academic courses was reached in the t h i r d sess ion and t h e r e a f t e r an i r r e g u l a r d e c l i n e set i n . The average d a i l y at tendance dropped permanently below seventy percent a t the seventh s e s s i o n , below s i x t y percent at the e leventh s e s s i o n , and below f i f t y percent at the t w e n t i e t h . s e s s i o n . Fo l l ow ing the n ineteenth Table XXX. The ru led l i n e across each column i nd i ca tes where the maximum p o s s i b l e at tendance dropped below one hundred. F igure 1 i l -l u s t r a t e s these at tendance pa t te rns g r a p h i c a l l y . TABLE XXX AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE PERCENTAGES BY SESSION AND COURSE TYPE Sess ion Al 1 Courses Academic Vocat iona l General 1 8 2 . 3 3 6 9 . 8 6 8 3 . 0 2 8 5 . 4 9 2 8 6 . 5 3 7 4 . 6 6 8 6 . 2 3 90.04 3 8 5 . 3 4 7 8 . 0 8 8 6 . 8 0 8 6 . 6 5 4 8 2 . 2 3 7 1 . 5 8 8 3 . 6 5 84.53 5 7 9 . 2 0 7 0 . 8 9 8 0 . 1 9 81.04 6 7 9 . 9 4 7 1 . 2 3 8 1 . 7 3 8 1 . 6 8 7 72.42 6 7 . 4 7 74.42 7 2 . 9 0 8 7 1 . 5 8 5 8 . 5 6 7 4 . 8 1 7 4 . 0 8 9 71.46 65.41 74.04 7 1 . 9 8 10 6 5 . 5 1 6 2 . 3 3 6 8 . 6 5 64.67 11 60.64 5 9 . 9 3 67.84 5 5 . 5 8 12 5 7 . 5 7 5 2 . 0 5 6 1 . 5 0 5 7 . 4 4 13 5 9 . 0 8 5 3 . 0 8 6 2 . 9 1 5 9 . 3 2 14 5 9 . 0 8 46 .92 6 1 . 9 7 6 3 . 5 0 15 5 8 . 5 3 52.40 5 7 . 9 7 6 2 . 3 6 16 5 7 . 1 2 5 6 . 5 1 5 8 . 0 5 56.84 17 5 5 . 0 5 5 6 . 8 5 5 5 . 1 7 5 3 . 8 6 18 5 5 . 1 4 5 8 . 5 6 5 4 . 6 0 5 3 . 4 4 19 5 3 . 7 1 52.40 55.46 53.24 2 0 5 1 . 8 3 48 .97 5 6 . 9 0 4 9 . 9 0 21 5 0 . 2 5 4 7 . 9 5 5 8 . 2 2 40 .20 22 5 0 . 4 3 56.48 6 0 . 3 2 43.14 23 4 9 . 9 1 4 5 . 2 1 5 7 . 6 7 48.15 24 46 .36 4 3 . 1 5 4 9 . 2 1 5 3 . 7 0 2 5 47.14 4 3 . 4 9 4 9 . 3 1 6 1 . 1 1 2 6 3 9 . 5 3 43.84 2 3 . 6 1 6 7 . 5 7 2 7 3 8 . 0 5 39.04 35.42 40 .54 2 8 4 7 . 1 5 41 .78 5 4 . 1 7 6 2 . 1 6 2 9 4 5 . 4 5 42 .12 5 1 . 3 9 48 .65 3 0 42 .39 35.84 5 0 . 0 0 6 2 . 1 6 31 3 9 . 5 7 3 6 . 9 2 5 6 . 4 3 3 2 . 4 3 3 2 4 2 . 1 7 3 7 . 9 9 5 0 . 7 0 40 .54 33 40.43 3 8 . 3 5 4 7 . 2 2 2 9 . 7 3 3 4 3 4 . 6 8 3 3 . 0 8 3 8 . 1 9 3 2 . 4 3 3 5 3 9 . 7 4 3 9 . 6 7 4 3 . 7 5 24.32 3 6 , 41 .60 3 9 . 1 3 41 .67 4 5 . 9 4 3 7 41 .20 4 4 . 2 3 4 3 . 7 5 2 7 . 0 3 3 8 3 9 . 9 1 4 4 . 2 3 45.14 1 3 . 5 1 3 9 40.72 9 2 . 3 1 42 .36 1 6 . 2 2 40 45.14 45.14 Sess ion .. A l 1 Courses Academ i c Vocat ional General 41 42.36 42.36 42 40.28 40.28 43 34.03 34.03 44 40.28 40.28 45 37.89 37.89 FIGURE I ATTENDANCE BY SESSION AND COURSE TYPE SESSION VD sess ion at tendance f l u c t u a t e d between the 48.97 percent o f sess ion twenty and the 33.08 percent o f sess ion t h i r t y - f o u r . The f i n a l sess ion of the academic course category may be regarded as a t y p i c a l s i nce the ADA of 92.31 percent was based on on ly one course . Gains observed in average d a i l y at tendance in academic courses in the l a s t few sess ions may r e f l e c t an urgency perce ived by the adu l t s tudents in p repa r ing f o r Department o f Educat ion June examina t ions . The peak at tendance in voca t i ona l courses at 86.80 percent was a t t a i n e d in the t h i r d s e s s i o n . The at tendance then dropped perma-nen t l y below e igh ty percent at the seventh s e s s i o n , below seventy per\u00C2\u00BB cent at the tenth s e s s i o n , and below s i x t y percent at the f i f t e e n t h s e s s i o n . The average d a i l y at tendance d id reach 60.32 pe rcen t , however, a t the twenty-second s e s s i o n , but then dropped below f i f t y percent at the twen ty - fou r th s e s s i o n . The low at tendance fo r voca t i ona l courses of 23.61 percent a t t a i n e d in the twen ty - s i x t h sess ion co i nc i ded w i th the Chr is tmas vaca t i on pe r iod f o r most cou rses . Vocat iona l course a t -tendance c l imbed above f i f t y percent fo r sess ions twen ty -e igh t , twen ty -n i n e , t h i r t y , and t h i r t y - t w o , but then dropped permanently below f i f t y pe rcen t . Between sess ions t h i r t y - t h r e e and f o r t y - f i v e voca t i ona l a t -tendance f l u c t u a t e d between the 34.03 percent of sess ion f o r t y - t h r e e and the 47.22 percent of sess ion th i r ty\u00C2\u00AB=three. General course at tendance reached a peak of 90.04 percent in the second s e s s i o n but then d e c l i n e d to below e igh ty percent at the seventh s e s s i o n and to below seventy percent at the t e n t h . The ADA reached 5 5 . 5 8 percent at the e leven th sess ion and then rose s l i g h t l y each sess ion to 6 3 . 5 0 percent at the fou r teen th s e s s i o n . There was then a d e c l i n e at each sess ion u n t i l an ADA of 40 ,20 percent was reached at the t w e n t y - f i r s t s e s s i o n . A f t e r sess ion twenty-two the maximum p o s s i b l e at tendance dropped below 100 and the percentage of at tendance f l u c t u a t e d i n c o n s i s t e n t l y between the 6 7 . 5 7 percent o f the twen t y - s i x t h and the 1 3 , 5 1 percent o f the t h i r t y - e i g h t h s e s s i o n . Th is e r r a t i c p a t -t e rn in the f i n a l s i x t e e n sess ions poses a problem f o r the n igh t school a d m i n i s t r a t o r ; i t appears that such lengthy courses r e s u l t in an i n -e f f e c t i v e use of the l i m i t e d resources a v a i l a b l e to n igh t school a c t i v -i t i e s . I I 1 SUMMARY A general but i n c o n s i s t e n t downward t rend was observed in average d a i l y at tendance fo r a l l c o u r s e s . The peak ADA of 8 6 . 5 3 p e r -cent was reached at the second sess ion and the l oss between the second and f o r t y - f i f t h sess i ons was 48.64 pe rcen t . The average d a i l y at tendance percentage f o r a l l courses was 6 3 . 4 7 compared to 5 2 . 8 8 percent f o r academic, 63.64 percent fo r vo -c a t i o n a l , and 7 0 . 3 0 percent f o r genera] cou rses . The comparison of ADA percentages between academic and voca t iona l courses was s t a t i s t i -c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t at the . 5 l eve l wh i l e the academic to general com\u00C2\u00AB pa r i son was s i g n i f i c a n t at the . 3 l eve l and the voca t i ona l to general at the .6 l e v e l . The c r i t i c a l r a t i o ob ta ined fo r the comparison of a l l courses to ten sess ion courses was s t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t at the ,1 l e v e l , f o r a l l courses to f i v e sess ion and s i x sess ion courses a t the .k l e v e l , and f o r t h r e e , e i g h t , f i f t e e n , and t h i r t y - f o u r sess ion courses at the .6 l e v e l . Thus, shor t courses appear to be s i g n i f i c a n t l y be t t e r in ma in ta i n i ng at tendance at a reasonable l e v e l . Chapter Seven SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS I SUMMARY P rocedu re The data used in t h i s study of p a r t i c i p a t i o n pa t te rns in the Surrey p u b l i c adu l t n igh t school program were de r i ved from 2,075 r e g i s -t r a t i o n cards and n i n e t y - e i g h t completed at tendance r e g i s t e r s . D i s -t r i b u t i o n s fo r n ine soc io-economic c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f p a r t i c i p a n t s in r e l a t i o n to course type and length were desc r ibed and tes ted by ch i square and cont ingency c o e f f i c i e n t f o r s t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r -ences . R e g i s t r a t i o n cards f o r dropouts were segregated and the n u l l hypothes is o f no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e was tes ted by chi square f o r the d i s t r i b u t i o n of dropout c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s by course type and l eng th . F i n a l l y , at tendance pa t te rns f o r courses of d i f f e r e n t lengths were compared us ing the c r i t i c a l r a t i o procedure and at tendance pa t te rns f o r d i f f e r e n t types of courses were desc r ibed and compared. C h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f P a r t i c i p a n t s Four o f the nine soc io-economic c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s tes ted showed s t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e s at the .01 l eve l in the d i s t r i b u t i o n s by course type and l eng th . These s i g n i f i c a n t c h a r a c t e r -i s t i c s inc luded sex , age, m a r i t a l s t a t u s , and o c c u p a t i o n . The r e -main ing f i v e c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s were not s i g n i f i c a n t l y d i f f e r e n t a t the .01 l e v e l . These inc luded number of c h i l d r e n , years of school com-p l e t e d , years res iden t in the d i s t r i c t , p rev ious at tendance at adu l t educat ion courses w i t h i n the l a s t three y e a r s , and t r a v e l t ime to c l a s s . S i x t y percent of a l l p a r t i c i p a n t s were female and f o r t y pe r -cent were male. The p ropo r t i on o f male p a r t i c i p a n t s was h ighes t in academic courses and lowest in general cou rses . The d i s t r i b u t i o n s by sex by course type and length were s t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t at the .01 1 e v e l . Almost t h i r t y percent of the p a r t i c i p a n t s were between the ages of t w e n t y - f i v e and t h i r t y - f o u r . The number of p a r t i c i p a n t s de-c l i n e d f o r each success i ve o l d e r age group to a low of two percent in the s i x t y - f i v e and over group. S t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e s at the .01 l eve l were observed in the age d i s t r i b u t i o n s by course type and l eng th . The academic enro l lees tended to be in the younger age / groups wh i le general course r e g i s t r a n t s were in the o l d e r age groups. More than t h ree -qua r te r s of the p a r t i c i p a n t s were marr ied w h i l e seventeen percent were s i n g l e . The p ropo r t i on o f marr ied s tudents was lowest in the academic and h ighest in the general course ca tegory , but the p ropo r t i on of s i n g l e p a r t i c i p a n t s was h ighest in the academic and lowest in the general course ca tegory . D i f f e rences in the ma r i t a l s t a tus d i s t r i b u t i o n s of p a r t i c i p a n t s by course type and length were s t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t at the .01 l e v e l . The l a r g e s t occupa t iona l group represented was housewives who comprised f o r t y -one percent of a l l r e g i s t r a n t s . Nine percent were c l e r i c a l workers as aga ins t e i gh t percent labourers and seven percent each in p r o f e s s i o n a 1 - t e c h n i c a 1 and s e r v i c e - r e c r e a t i o n occupa t i ons . D i f f e rences in the occupa t iona l d i s t r i b u t i o n s of p a r t i c i p a n t s by course type and length were s t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t a t the .01 l e v e l . C h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of Dropouts Twenty-e ight percent of the r e g i s t r a n t s in the Surrey program were c l a s s i f i e d as d ropouts . Three of the soc io-economic c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s tes ted fo r d ropouts\u00E2\u0080\u0094age, ma r i t a l s t a t u s , and occupat ion\u00E2\u0080\u0094were s t a -t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t at the .01 leve l in the a n a l y s i s by course type . None of the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s tes ted were s t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t at the .01 leve l in the d i s t r i b u t i o n s by course l e n g t h . The h ighest number of dropouts in the age d i s t r i b u t i o n by course type at t h i r t y - e i g h t percent occur red in the youngest age group wh i l e the lowest number of dropouts was in the f o r t y - f i v e to f i f t y - f o u r group at twenty-one pe rcen t . The d i f f e r e n c e in the age d i s t r i b u t i o n of dropouts by course type was s t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t a t the .01 l e v e l . There were s i g n i f i c a n t l y more enro l lees who d i scon t i nued a t -tendance in the younger age groups in academic cou rses . For ty percent of the s i n g l e compared to twenty - four percent of the marr ied r e g i s t r a n t s dropped ou t . D i f f e rences in the d i s t r i b u t i o n by m a r i t a l s ta tus by course type were s i g n i f i c a n t at the .01 l e v e l . Thus, there were s i g n i f i c a n t l y more s i n g l e than marr ied p a r t i c i p a n t s who d i scon t i nued a t tendance. The number of dropouts in occupat iona l groups va r i ed from the low of twenty-two percent f o r housewives to the h igh of f o r t y - s i x percent f o r p r imary . S t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e s a t the .01 l eve l were observed in the occupa t iona l d i s t r i b u t i o n of dropouts by course type . S i g n i f i c a n t l y l ess in housewi fe , manage r i a l , p r o f e s s i o n a l -t e c h n i c a l , and craf tsmen d i scon t i nued at tendance than in o ther o c c u -pa t i ona l groups. At tendance Pa t t e rns A general but i n c o n s i s t e n t downward t rend was noted in average d a i l y at tendance fo r a l l cou rses . The peak at tendance of 8 6 . 5 3 percent was reached at the second s e s s i o n . The at tendance d e c l i n e d to below e igh ty percent at the f i f t h s e s s i o n , to below seventy percent at the tenth s e s s i o n , and then r a p i d l y dropped to below s i x t y percent a t the t w e l f t h s e s s i o n . A per iod of gradual d e c l i n e then occu r red ,w i t h at tendance f a l l i n g below f i f t y percent at the twen t y - t h i r d sess ion and t h e r e a f t e r f l u c t u a t i n g in the t h i r t y and f o r t y percent ranges. The net l oss f o r a l l courses between sess ion two and f o r t y - f i v e was 4 8 . 6 4 pe rcen t . The average d a i l y at tendance fo r a l l courses was 63.47 pe r -c e n t , wh i l e that f o r academic courses was 5 2 . 8 8 percent compared to 63 .64 percent f o r voca t i ona l courses and 70.30 f o r general c o u r s e s . The comparison of ADA percentages f o r academic and voca t iona l courses was s t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t . a t the . 5 l e v e l , fo r academic and general courses at the .3 l e v e l , and f o r voca t i ona l and general courses at the .6 l e v e l . The g rea tes t d i f f e r e n c e in average d a i l y a t t e n d a n c e , t h e r e -f o r e , was that between academic and general cou rses . However, t h i s may be r e l a t e d to the course length f a c t o r s i nce academic courses had the longest average length and general courses the s h o r t e s t . When the percentage of average d a i l y at tendance fo r a l l courses was compared to that f o r each length of cou rse , none of the c r i t i c a l r a t i o s obta ined were s t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t a t the .01 l e v e l . The c r i t i c a l r a t i o obta ined fo r the comparison of a l l courses to ten sess ion courses was s i g n i f i c a n t at the .1 l e v e l , and fo r a l l courses to f i v e and s i x sess ion courses at the .4 l e v e l . Th is would suggest that shor t courses were supe r i o r to long courses in terms of average d a i l y a t tendance. II CONCLUSIONS The f i r s t hypothes is tes ted in t h i s study was that there are no s t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t . d i f f e r e n c e s in c e r t a i n s p e c i f i e d s o c i o -economic c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of p a r t i c i p a n t s who are e n r o l l e d in academic, voca t i ona1 ,o r general cou rses , or in courses of d i f f e r e n t l eng ths . Th is hypothes is was accepted fo r number o f c h i l d r e n , years o f s c h o o l i n g , years res iden t in the d i s t r i c t , p rev ious at tendance at a d u l t educat ion cou rses , and t r a v e l t ime to c l a s s . It was re jec ted both fo r the course type and length d i s t r i b u t i o n s by sex , age, mar i t a l s t a t u s , and o c c u -p a t i o n . The re fo re , the three types o f courses appear to a t t r a c t a d i f f e r e n t c l i e n t e l e in terms of the four s i g n i f i c a n t c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s . The pro to type p a r t i c i p a n t in the Surrey p u b l i c adu l t n igh t school program might .be desc r ibed as a young housewi fe ; t h i s is com-p a t i b l e w i th the f i n d i n g s of o ther s tud ies on p a r t i c i p a n t s in p u b l i c school adu l t educat ion programs. Academic and voca t i ona l courses tended to e n r o l l more young, s i n g l e , male a d u l t s from occupat iona l groups such as c l e r i c a l , l abou re r , and t ranspor ta t ion -communica t ion than d id general i n t e r e s t cou rses . This suggests that these p a r t i c i p a n t s were i n t e res ted in sub jec ts r e l a t e d to job q u a l i f i c a t i o n and advancement wh i l e the general i n t e r e s t r e g i s t r a n t s , which were p r i m a r i l y housewives, were more concerned w i t h sub jec ts r e l a t ed to s o c i a l and l e i s u r e time a c t i v i -t i e s . The Surrey program, in common w i th o ther p u b l i c adu l t n ight s c h o o l s , does not seem to a t t r a c t persons in the o l d e r age groups. With a la rge number of r e t i r e d adu l t s in the d i s t r i c t an attempt should be made to a t t r a c t these people in to the n igh t school program. The second hypothes is tes ted was that there are no s t a t i s t i -c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e s in c e r t a i n soc io-economic c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s between those p a r t i c i p a n t s who p e r s i s t in at tendance and those who drop out in the t o t a l program, in academic, v o c a t i o n a l , o r general cou rses , or in courses of d i f f e r e n t l eng ths . Th is hypothes is was accepted fo r a l l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s by course l eng th . It was r e j e c t e d , however, in regard to age, ma r i t a l s t a t u s , and occupat ion f o r the d i s t r i b u t i o n of dropouts by course type . It appears that in the Surrey program young s i n g l e adu l t s in occupa t iona l groups such as c l e r i c a l , l abou re r , p r imary , and t r a n s p o r -ta t ion-communicat ion are more dropout prone than o ther groups. The on ly marked d i f f e r e n c e between tBue conc lus ions of Verner and Davis and those of the present study was that educa t iona l l eve l appeared not to be r e l a t ed to d i scon t inuance in Sur rey . Since the h ighest number o f dropouts occur red in academic and voca t iona l courses f o r young unmarried p a r t i c i p a n t s i t appears that the needs of these enro l lees are not being adequate ly se rved . They are given the same i n s t r u c t i o n a l m a t e r i a l s that the p r e - a d u l t s have in the h igh s c h o o l s . Furthermore, the a t t i t u d e s and techniques of the i n -s t r u c t o r s probably are l i t t l e d i f f e r e n t from those used w i th p r e - a d u l t s . The f i r s t t h ing that should be done w i th the dropout prone students is to i n s t i l l a f avo rab le a t t i t u d e toward con t i nu ing educat ion and then proceed w i th i n s t r u c t i o n a l m a t e r i a l s and techniques su i t ed to the adu l t l e v e l . In a d d i t i o n , c o u n s e l l i n g at r e g i s t r a t i o n f o r p rospec t i ve academic and voca t iona l r e g i s t r a n t s might tend to reduce the d i s c o n -t inuance ra te in these cou rses . Fur ther e f f o r t s cou ld be made by course i n s t r u c t o r s to encourage dropout prone students to p e r s i s t in t h e i r s t u d i e s . The t h i r d hypothes is tes ted s ta ted that there are no s t a -t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e s in at tendance pa t te rns between academic, v o c a t i o n a l , o r general c o u r s e s , or between courses of d i f f e r -ent l eng ths . A l though the course type and length f a c t o r s are r e l a t ed i t . appea rs that the hypothes is can be r e j e c t e d . Short courses in the general i n t e r e s t category mainta ined at tendance at a h igher l eve l than d id longer courses in the voca t i ona l and academic c a t e g o r i e s . Probably the most c r i t i c a l f a c t o r in the maintenance of a t -tendance in the Surrey p u b l i c adu l t n ight school program is course length s i nce at tendance keeps d e c l i n i n g the longer courses con t i nue . There appears to be a need fo r shor t courses to be o f f e r e d in order to ach ieve the optimum use of n ight school resources . Instead of o f f e r i n g one t h i r t y - s i x sess ion academic cou rse , f o r example, three courses of twelve sess ions cou ld be programmed. Few adu l t s tudents seem to be w i l l i n g to commit themselves to long courses of s tudy . The sub jec t of d i scon t inuance is one that should be exp lored f u r t h e r . Fur ther s t u d i e s in the p u b l i c adu l t n igh t school programs of B r i t i s h Columbia are needed to determine whether or not the d i s c o n -t inuance pa t te rns observed in Surrey are found e lsewhere . These a d -d i t i o n a l s t ud ies of at tendance pa t te rns might r e s u l t in the de te rm i -na t ion of an optimum course length in r e l a t i o n to the sub jec t matter being o f f e r e d and the type of c l i e n t e l e e n v i s i o n e d . BIBLIOGRAPHY Brunner, E . de S . , D. S. W i l d e r , C. K i r c h n e r , and J . S. Newberry, J r . An Overview of Adu l t Educat ion Research . Chicago; A d u l t Educat ion A s s o c i a t i o n , 1 9 5 9 . Chapman, Char les E. \"Some C h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of Adu l t Par t -T ime S t u d e n t s . \" Adu l t E d u c a t i o n , v o l . 10 (Autumn, 1 9 5 9 ) , pp. 27 - 4 1 . Davi s , James A . 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S tan ley . \"Know Your C l i e n t e l e . \" Adu l t Educa t i on , v o l . 9 (Sp r i ng , 1 9 5 9 ) , pp. 1 5 5 - 1 5 6 . Verner , Cool ie ,and G. S. Dav i s , J r . \"Complet ions and Drop Outs; A Review of R e s e a r c h . \" Adu l t Educa t i on , v o l . 14 (Sp r i ng , 1 9 6 4 ) , pp. 1 5 7 - 1 7 6 . Verner , C o o l i e , and J . S. Newberry, J r . \"The Nature o f Adu l t P a r t i c i p a t i o n . \" Adu l t E d u c a t i o n , v o l , 7 (Summer, 1958) pp. 2 0 8 - 2 2 2 . Verner , C o o l i e , and M. S. Ney lan . \" P a t t e r n s of Attendance in Adu l t Night School C o u r s e s . \" Unpubl ished manuscr ip t , U n i v e r s i t y o f B r i t i s h Columbia, 1965 . Wr igh t , Grace S. Pers i s tence of At tendance i n Adu l t Educat i on C l a s s e s . Un i ted States O f f i c e o f E d u c a t i o n , C i r c u l a r No. 353> October , 1 9 5 2 . C w + C . o + . v \" i -C- 111 + ^ C o : . 19 17 IS 13 II 9 7 S 3 I 20 18 16 14 12 10 B 8 4 2 LOCATION T O G-Cr'cfno o, o Q O M K. I O \" E C . \"A r>- o.-'o c o o o o R > ' N L J H P , D B 0/o'o n rn o 11 \u00C2\u00BB' ' 7 B i 3 '1 o o-.n o o o 12 10 8 6 4 2 NON-VOCATIONAL 11 7 '8 . '3 TV o o \u00E2\u0080\u00A2('; o o. o 12 io a e 4 . 2 VOCATIONAL School District No. 36, Adult Education Division . M r . Mrs.: Miss Surname Given Names Street Address and Mailing \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Address City, Town, P .O. Telephone Number R E S E A R C H & D E V E L O P M E N T I N F O R M A T I O N (Voluntary and Confidential) Years Resident i n Surrey Age 15-24 25 -34 35 -44 45-54 55 - 65 , 65 + \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 \u00E2\u0080\u00A2U-\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 and White Rock. . . 3.-4 \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 \u00E2\u0080\u00A2\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 . 5 Plus \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 : Married f j Single Q Widowed Q Divorced Q Number of Children [~1' \u00E2\u0080\u00A2\"\" Have you attended any other adult education classes of any type within the last 3 years? Yes [~~J ' No [\"J If yes, in Surrey? Yes Q N o Q Elsewhere? ' Yes Q N o Q Occupation ; \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 . Years of school attended 0 - 8 Q 9-12 [ J University 1-2 \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 3 -5 \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Post Grad. ' d \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 . > Tech. or Trade School Apprent. or Articling . -1-2 \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 3 - 4 Q \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 +L~fi 8 I O O o c V^ .'O'CtC 2 r 2 5 mm 3 >v* o y.: :U \" O O. O. o o o 6 \" G : o 6 a d o .o . ,O...Q > m "@en . "Thesis/Dissertation"@en . "10.14288/1.0104887"@en . "eng"@en . "Administrative, Adult and Higher Education"@en . "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en . "University of British Columbia"@en . "For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use."@en . "Graduate"@en . "Patterns of participation in a public adult night school program"@en . "Text"@en . "http://hdl.handle.net/2429/37680"@en .