UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Foreword | NTEREST IN ADULT EDUCATION has been heightened during recent years as a consequence of several changes taking place on the American scene. The population contains ever-increasing numbers of older persons, many of whom may wish educational assistance toward a comfortable and productive retirement period. As job opportunities for unskilled workers diminish, it becomes increasingly evident that individuals in the labor force must be equipped with the tools of a basic education plus some specialized training. Shorter workweeks and laborsaving devices are making more hours available for leisure-time pursuits. These important changes have served to direct attention to adult education as the principal means of meeting these and other essential needs. Along with the expanded interest in programs of adult education, a need has arisen for current statistics on those programs. The Office of Education, recognizing that a major gap in its statistics on education in the United States has existed in this area, is attempting to fill the gap through systematic gathering and publishing of adult-education statistics. Its first approach to this problem was through a survey of individuals to obtain an unduplicated count of the number participating in adult education classes-whether offered by an elementary or a high school, a college, a library, the Agricultural Extension Service, or other type of institution or agency-and to ascertain the characteristics of the participants as compared with the nonparticipants. This survey, made possible by the inclusion of special adult-education questions in the Bureau of the Census' Current Population Survey for October 1957, was reported in detail in Participation in Adult Education, Office of Education Circular No. 539. The second approach of the Office was through a survey of the local public school systems that offered adult-education programs during 1958-59. The present report provides detailed data describing those programs. Similar surveys of public school adult education, it is anticipated, will be conducted periodicallyperhaps every 4 years-in order to ascertain trend data in this field. Also, the Office hopes to cover, in a separate survey, the adult-education programs offered by institutions of higher education. The present publication is the second one relating to the 1958-59 survey of public school adult education. In accordance with the general policy of the Office to make survey results available in preliminary form as promptly as possible, a brief summary of major totals was published in June 1960 under the title Advance Statistics of Adult Education in Public School Systems, 1958-59. The present report includes the detailed information obtained in the survey, as well as the major totals previously published, and therefore is the complete survey report. VIRGIL R. WALKER, Statistics Branch JOHN G. LORENZ, Acting Assistant Commissioner AMBROSE CALIVER, Assistant to the Commissioner Acknowledgments THIS HIS PUBLICATION was made possible by generous cooperation from the many persons who were concerned with the survey from the time of its formulation to the printing of this final report. A number of persons in the field of adult education, including particularly the State directors of adult education in the various State departments of education, provided valuable assistance by reviewing and commenting on the proposed questionnaire in its preliminary stages. Special appreciation is expressed to the local public school officials of the surveyed school systems who cooperated in the pretest of the questionnaire and then supplied the basic data for the survey. Staff members of the Adult Education Section of the Office of Education provided consultative services throughout the entire survey. Roy B. Minnis, Specialist in the Section, and John B. Holden, formerly with the Office, gave the project impetus by their particular interest. Assistance from members of the Educational Statistics Branch of the Office of Education is gratefully acknowledged. Persons who made special contributions to this survey include Marie D. Wann, formerly with the Office of Education, Joel Williams, and Walter H. Gaumnitz, each of whom gave experienced guidance to this new adult-education survey. 1. Appendix 2. 3. 4. 5. Definitions Universe and Sample Statistics of Public School Adult-Education Programs Total Enrollment .... Adult Education Classes Individual Activities for Adults Elementary and High School Graduation Through Adult Education Informal Group Activities for Adults Personnel for Adult Programs Guidance and Counseling for Adults Technical Aspects of the Survey Survey Design Funds for Adult Programs Cosponsorship of Adult Activities with Other Community Institutions Coverage Universe Sample Design .... Adjustments to Sample and Universe Instruction Sheet Development of the Questionnaire Pretest ... Methodology of Mailout and Followup Sampling Error ... TABLES Local public school systems in universe and sample used for adult education sur- Types of regular enrollment reported by local public school systems offering adult Types of local public school systems, by adult education offered or not offered and Enrollment in public elementary and secondary full-time day schools, by adult 6. 7. Unduplicated count of persons participating in adult education classes offered by local public school systems, by enrollment-size group, for continental United States: 1958-59 9. 8. Comparison of unduplicated enrollment in public school adult education classes with unduplicated enrollment in public elementary and secondary full-time day schools, by enrollment-size group, for continental United States: 1958-59 ...... Local public school systems reporting at least one adult education class, by field of instruction and enrollment-size group, for continental United States: 1958-59 Adult education classes conducted by local public school systems, by field of instruction and enrollment-size group, for continental United States: 1958-59 ... Enrollment in adult education classes offered by local public school systems, by field of instruction and enrollment-size group, for continental United States: 1958-59 .... 10. 11. 12. 13. Clock hours in session for adult education classes offered by local public school systems, by field of instruction and enrollment-size group, for continental United States: 1958-59 .. 16. Enrollment in adult education programs offered by local public school systems, by enrollment-size group, for continental United States: 1958-59 ... 14. Mean enrollment and mean number of clock hours in session per class for adult education classes conducted by local public school systems, by field of instruction and enrollment-size group, for continental United States: 1958-59 .... 17. 15. Local public school systems which offer in lividual activities for adults in addition to adult education classes, by type of activity and enrollment-size group, for continental United States: 1958-59 Percent distributions for enrollment in adult education classes offered by local public school systems, by field of instruction and enrollment-size group, for continental United States: 1958-59 .... 18. Adults graduating from elementary or high school through a public school adult education program, by instructional level and enrollment-size group, for continental United States: 1958-59 .... Enrollment in individual activities for adults offered by local public school systems, by type of activity and enrollment-size group, for continental United States: 1958-59 .... 19. Local public school systems which offer informal group activities for adults in addition to adult education classes, by enrollment-size group, for continental United States: 1958-59 .. Local public school systems which offer credit toward elementary or high school graduation through the adult education program, by instructional level and enrollment-size group, for continental United States: 1958-59 .... Local public school systems which offer informal group activities for adults in addition to adult education classes, by type of activity and enrollment-size group, for continental United States: 1958-59 .. Informal group events for adults conducted by local public school systems, by type of activity and enrollment-size group, for continental United States: 1958-59 .. Local public school systems having an adult education program, by title of person having responsibility for program and enrollment-size group, for continental United States: 1958-59 ... Local public school systems having an adult education program, by percent of time devoted to adult education by person in charge of program and enrollmentsize group, for continental United States: 1958-59 .. 37. 39. 40. Additional administrative personnel for adult education programs offered by local Local public school systems having an adult education program, by percent of Teachers for adult programs offered by local public school systems, by type of Local public school systems having a regular guidance and counseling service for Staff members assigned to a guidance and counseling service for adults offered by ....... Funds for adult programs offered by local public school systems, by source of .... Local public school systems in which the adult program is charged overhead or in- ... Local public school systems in universe and sample used for adult education survey, by enrollment-size group, for continental United States: 1957 and 1959 .... 38. Replies of local public school systems to questions, included in pretest, regarding collection of data on characteristics of participants in their adult education programs, by characteristic and enrollment-size group, for 382 school systems reporting: 1959 ..... Local public school systems having an adult program which reported cosponsor- .... Standard error of estimates prepared from sample data for school systems in Standard error of estimates prepared from sample data for school systems in |