Table 1.—Participation rates in adult education and main reason for participating, by age: 1991

{mprove/ — Personal/ Improve For

advance family! Trainfor basic diploma’ Un-
_Age Tova!’ in Job social newjob skills degree Other known?
TOTAL 91.6 18.8 95 3.0 0.4 41 0.3 0.8
17-19 27.7 5.6 10.7 7.2 25 9.3 02 0.5
20-24 34.8 15.3 o4 5.2 0.6 94 04 1.0
25-29 38.2 23.5 96 46 0.6 6.6 0.2 Ww
3-34 36.1 23.5 9.3 4.0 O.¢, 41 0.2 0.7
35-39 41 27.1 10.2 42 0.2 5.7 04 1.0
40-44 48.1 323 13.6 28 0.5 47 0.2 1.9
45-49 39.1 28.3 10.9 1.8 03 3.4 0.3 0.7
50-54 26.2 17.6 8.1 17 0.1 1.4 04 0.4
55-59 28.5 18.9 85 1.7 0.2 15 0.3 0S
60-64 17.2 9.0 74 0.4 cC) 0.8 C) 06
65 and older 10.5 23 7.6 0.4 C) 0.3 0.1 0.3

‘Participants can be counted in more than one reascn.

“This column represents participants who refused, did not know, or were not able to give a reason,

“Too faw sample observations for a retiable estimate.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Canter for Education Statistics, National Household Education

Survey, Adult Education Component, 1991.

Figure 1.—Participation rates in adult education and main reason for participating, by age: 1991

Percent

[+
17-19 20-24 2529 30:34 35:39 40-44 4549 50-54 5559 60-64 65o0r>

Age

TMImprove/advance in job + Personalfamily/social
@ improve basic skills >< For diploma/degree

K Train for new job

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Household Education

Survey, Adult Education Component, 1991. 4

e
Uu



confidence intervals. For example, an estimated
31.6 percent of adults participated in adult
education in the 12 months prior to the survey.
This figure has an estimated standard error of .77
percent. Therefore, the estimated 95 percent
confidence interval for this statistic is
approximately 30-33 percent (31.6 percent
plus/minus 1.96 times .77).

All differences cited in the text of this report are
significant at the 0.05 level. Where applicable,
Bonferroni adjustments for multiple comparisons
were used.

ENDNOTES

‘A.A. Liveright and N. Haygood, eds., The
Exeter Papers (Boston: 1959), 8.

711 does not include full-time study in elementary
or secondary school.

3U.S. Department of Education, National
Household Education Survey (NHES:91).

“This rate is significantly different from the 14-
percent rate in 1984 based on the Current
Population Survey (CPS) conducted by the U.S.
Bureau of the Census. No definitive explanation
for the difference is possible at this time because
many potential factors may be involved. In
addition to a possible increase in demand for
adult education as a result of rapid changes in
technology and the job market, there were many
definition and procedural differences in data
collection between CPS and NHES:91. Current
data are insufficient to evaluate the impact of
multiple potential factors. Thus, readers should
exercise extreme caution in making comparisons
and interpreting the difference.

5In this report, both white and black include only
non-Hispanic.

[<e)



percent. The participation rate for senior citizens
(65 years and over) was still 8 percent.

Differences by Sex and Parental Status

Even though there was no difference between
men and women in their overall participation
rates in adult education, men were more likely
than women (21 vs. 17 perceni) to enroll in
courses to improve or update their work skills in
their current jobs (table 2). However, women
were more likely than men to enroll in courses
for personal, family, or social reasons (11 vs. 8
percent) and for a degree or diploma (5 vs. 4
percent).

For both men and women, having their children
under 16 living in the same household did not
adversely affect their participation in adult
education (table 2). In fact, adults with children
under 16 had higher participation rates in adult
education for the improvement and advancement
in a job (28 vs. 17 percent for men and 21 vs. 15
percent for women). Similarly, females with
children under 16 were more likely than those
without children under 16 to enroll in a training
program for a new job or career (4 vs. 3
Percent).

Differences by Race-ethnicity

One third (33 percent) of the white’ adult
population enrolled in adult education during the
12 months prior to spring 1991 (table 2). This
was significantly higher than the 23 percent for
blacks. The participation rate for Hispanics was
29 percent.

When it came to taking courses to improve skills
in the workplace, the participation rates of whites
was higher than blacks (20 vs. 12 percent) or
Hispanics (20 vs. 14 percent). Additionally,
whites were more likely to enroll for a diploma
or degree than blacks. As expected, whites were
less likely to train for a new job or to enroll in
basic skills than Hispanics.

Differences by Educational Attainment

In further analyzing the main reasons for
participating in adult education, the participants
were divided into two groups according to
highest grade completed. The first group
consisted of those who had completed a high
school education or less, and the second group
consisted of those who had completed at least
one year of postsecondary education. Data
clearly show that adults with some postsecondary
education were more likely than adults with a
high school education or less to participate in
adult education (table 2). This is interesting
because the education gap between the two
groups was further increased. Adults who needed
additional education most were the least likely to
participate in adult education. Further studies are
warranted to examine reasons for this
phenomenon.

Methodology and Data Reliability

NHES:91 is a telephone survey conducted by
NCES. The survey is designed to be
representative of all civilian, noninstitutionalized
persons in the 50 states and the District of
Columbia. The sample is selected using random-
digit-diating (RDD) methods, and data are
collected using computer-assisted telephone
interviewing (CATT) technology.

NHES:91 included two survey components: an
early childhood (EC) survey of children 2 to 9
years old and an adult education (AE) survey of
persons 16 years of age and older. In this report,
16-year-olds were excluded from the analysis
because traditionally adult education participants
include only individuals who are 17 years old or
older. Two different survey instruments were
used to collect data for the adult education
component. The first instrument, a household
screener administered to an adult member of the
household, was used to enumerate each adult
over the age of 15, including those living away
from home in school housing. The screener
respondent was asked a series of items about
each adult's educational participation over the
past 12 months. Adults currently enrolled as full-

ed



full-time high school or elementary students were
not sampled. Part-time AE participants were
included with certainty, full-time students were
sampled at a rate of 50 percent, and
nonparticipants were sampled at a rate of about
8 percent.

The participation status determined from the
screener was used for sampling purposes only.
Once an adult was sampled for an interview, his
or her interview responses rather than
information provided in the screener were used
to determine participation status. The interview,
the second survey instrument, covered all forms
of participation in educational activities over the
1Z months prior to the interview. For part-time
courses, some of the data collected were on types
and sponsorship of courses, main reasons for
enrolling, and benefits of and bartiers to
participation. Each participant was asked
questicns for each course, up to a maximum of
four courses, attended during the previous 12
months.

Response Kates

In NHES:91, the household screener response
sate was 81 percent. Based on the screener, a
total of 14,226 adults were sampled. Of these, 32
were ineligible and 12,568 were interviewed. The
weighted completion rate of the AE interview
was 85 percent. The overall weighted response
rate for the Adult Edacaticn Component was 69
percent (the product of the household screening
response rate and the AE interview completion
rate).

Data Reliability

Estimates produced using NHES:91 data are
subject to two types of error: sampling and
nonsampling. Sampling errors occur because the
data are collected from a sample rather than a
census of a population. Nonsampling error is the
term used to describe variations in the estimates
which may be caused by coverage, data
collection, or data processing.

Sampling Errors

The sample of telephone households selected for
NHES:91 is just one of many possible samples
that could have been selected. Therefore,
estimates produced irom the NHES:91 sample
may differ from estimates that would have been
produced from other samples. This type of
variability is calicd sampling czror because it
arises from using a sample of households with
telephones rather than all households with
telephones.

Nonsampling Errors

Nonsampling errors can be attributed to many
sources, e.g, inability to obtain information about
all cases in the sample, definitional difficulties,
differences in the interpretation of questions,
inability or unwillingness of the respondents to
provide correct information, inability to recall
information, errors made in processing the data,
and errors made in estimating values for missing
data.

In general, it is difficult to identify and estimate
either the amount of nonsampling error or the
bias caused by this error. However, in the
NHES:91 survey, efforts wore made to prevent
nonsampling error from occurring and to
compensate for it where possible. For instance,
during the survey design phase, which entailed
over 500 hours of CATI instrument testing and
a pretest with over 200 households, efforts were
made to check for consistency of interpretation
of items and to eliminate ambiguity in items.

An important nonsampling error for a telephone
survey is the failure to include persons who do
not live in households with telephones. About 93
percent of all adults live in households with
telephones. Estimation procedures were used to
help reduce the bias in the estimates associated
with adults who did not live in telephone
households,

Standard errors for some of the major variables

in this report are presented in table 3. These
standard errors can be used to produce

G



Table 3.—Standard errors for participation rates in adult education and main reason for participating, by age, sex,

parental status, race-ethnicity and educational attainment: 1201

Improve/  Personal/ Improve For
advance family/ Trainfor basic diploma’ Un-
Characteristic Total in job social newjob skills degree = Other known!
TOTAL 0.79 0.59 0.44 0.19 0.04 0.18 0.03 0.07
Age
17-19 2.94 1.41 1.82 2.05 0.56 1.67 0.12 0.24
20-24 2.16 1.39 0.94 0.95 0.18 0.88 0.13 0.22
25-29 2.16 1.78 0.86 0.53 0.15 0.71 0.08 0.23
30-34 2.65 2.25 1.00 0.71 0.10 0.52 0.09 0.16
35-39 2.39 1.90 1.10 0.67 0.07 0.60 0.12 0.17
40-44 2.94 2.16 2.03 0.37 0.15 0.69 0.08 0.54
45-49 2.93 2.28 1.39 0.33 0.14 0.58 0.13 0.16
50-54 2.74 2.05 1.22 0.63 0.09 0.31 0.14 0.11
55-59 3.95, 3.35 1.14 0.74 0.11 0.33 0.14 0.20
60-64 2.25 1.71 1.07 0.14 lown 0.21 lown. 0.24
65 and older 1.18 0.33 1.10 0.29 lown 0.08 0.05 0.09
Sex
Male 1.16 0.98 0.48 0.24 0.06 0.22 0.05 0.08
‘With children under 16 2.86 2.27 0.84 0.58 0.10 0.41 0.08 0.17
No children under 16 1.26 1.16 0.63 0.30 0.07 0.29 0.06 0.09
Female 0.99 0.68 0.63 0.29 0.06 0.27 0.04 0.12
With children under 16 2.08 1.56 1.07 0.49 0.08 0.47 0.07 0.26
No children under 16 1.08 0.73 0.65 0.34 0.10 0.31 0.05 0.10
Race-ethnicity
White, non-Hispanic 0.91 0.70 0.45 0.22 0.03 0.22 0.04 0.08
Black, non-Hispanic 2.12 1.62 0.91 0.42 0.24 0.45 0.08 0.19
Hispanic 3.04 211 1.55 0.78 0.27 0.47 0.13 0.24
Educational attainment
High school or less 0.95 0.64 0.57 0.28 0.06 0.16 0.03 0.06
Some postsecondary
education 1.99 0.84 0.60 0.28 0.05 0.37 0.06 0.14

‘This column represents participants who refused, did not know, of were not able to give a reason.

SOURCE: U.S. Department oi Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Household Education
Survey, Adult Education Component, 1931.

“US. Government Frinting Office: 1993 — 982.990

Ww



DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 358 365 CE 063 969

AUTHOR Kopka, Teresita L. Chan; Peng, Samuel S.

TITLE Adult Education: Main Reasons for Participating.
Statistics in Brief.

INSTITUTION National Center for Education Statistics (ED),
Washington, DC.

REPORT NO NCES-93-451

PUB DATE Jun 93

NOTE 9p.

PUB TYPE Reports - Research/Technical (143)

EDRS PRICE MFO1/PCO1 Plus Postage.

DESCRIPTORS Academic Aspiration; *Adult Education; Blacks;

Educational Background; Educational Research; Ethnic
Groups; Females; Hispanic Americans; Individual
Characteristics; “Learning Motivation; Lifelong
Learning; Males; National Surveys; Older Adults;
Parents; “Participant Characteristics;
*Participation; Race; Sex; Student Motivation;
Whites

ABSTRACT

A survey of educational activities of adults in the
United States was a component of the 1991 National Household
Education Survey, a telephone survey of 12,568 adults. This survey
found that 32 percent of adults, defined as persons aged 17 and over,
were enrolled in a part-time educational activity over a 12-month
period in 1990-91. Eleven percent of senior citizens participated in
such educational activities. Most frequently, participants wanted to
improve, advance, or keep up to date in their current jobs. Other
reasons included personal enrichment, training for a new job, and
obtsining a diploma or degree. The reasons cited depended on the
participants' age, se:, race/ethnicity, and educational attainment.
Young adults were more likely to participate to obtain a diploma or
train for a new job. Men were more likely to enroll in courses to
improve or update their work skills in their current jobs; women were
likely to enroll in courses for personal, family, or social reasons.
More Whites than Blacks or Hispanics took courses to improve skills
in the workplace. Whites were more likely to enroll for a diploma or
degree than Blacks and less likely to train for a new job or to
enroll in basic skills than Hispanics. Adults with some postsecondary
education were more likely to participate in adult education. (Three
data tables and one figure illustrate participation rates and main
reason for participating by age, sex, parental status,
race/ethnicity, and educational attainment and standard errors for
those participation rates.) (YLB)

TES AITO TET IT II TAT III IIR I TTI TR II TTA TAI TTT DIR TAHITI IR TE

* Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made *

* from the original document. *
Jai HO TOKO IIS SOO ICSC OC OI ISSO TOROS ISO SISO ISO IO ISOS TOT ICO TOR I TOR I RR



Table 2.—Participation rates in adult education and main reason for participating, by sex, parental status,
tace-ethnicity and educational attainment: 1991

Improves. Personal/ Improve For
advance family! Trainfor basic diptoma/ Un
Charactoristic Total’ in Job social newjob skills degree Other known?
TOTAL 31.6 18.8 9.5 3.0 0.4 41 03 0.8

Sex

Male 31.6 211 7.6 2.6 Oe 3.6 a3 0.6

With children under 16 36.7 27.6 6.6 3.2 0.4 33 0.2 0.6

No children under 16 28.5 17.3 8.3 23 04 3.7 03 0.6
Femaie 31.6 17.0 11.0 3.3 04 4.6 O2 1.0

With children under 16 36.9 20.7 12.0 44 0.3 5.0 0.2 Ww

No children under 16 28.2 14.7 10.4 25 0.4 43 03 0.9
Race-ethnicity
White, non-Hispanic 33.1 20.4 9.9 28 0.2 43 0.3 0.8
Black, non-Hispanic 22.8 12.1 6.8 3.2 0.7 3.0 0.2 0.9
Hispanic 29.2 14.1 89 48 1.2 3.5 03 0.8
Educational attainment

High school or less 19.3 9.9 6.1 25 0.5 2.0 01 0.4
Some postsecondary

education 4.9 28.6 13.2 35 0.3 6.4 0.4 1.2

‘Participants can be counted in more than one reason.
*This column represents participants who refused, did not know, or were not able to give a reason.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Cenier icr Education Statistics, National Household Education
Survey, Adult Education Component, 1991.

=I



ED858365

CE 063 969

NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS

Contact:

Teresita L. Chan Kopka
(202) 219-1771

Authors:

Teresita L. Chan Kopka
Samuel S. Peng

US ofPantenT oF €
Otice of Eaucatera Reseach ar iapronament

eke sean ae gonzo

‘81ved HOM Ihe De'sOR OF orgencalion
mating Wt

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reproduction quatity ore

© Points ot wew or opinions,
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Statistics in Brief June 1993

Adult Education: Main
Reasons for Participating

“Adult education is a process whereby persons who no longer attend
school on a regular, full-time basis (unless full-time programs are
especially designed for adults) undertake sequential and organized
activities with a conscious intention of bringing about changes in
information, knowledge, understanding or skill, appreciation and attitudes;
or for the purpose of identifying and solving personal and community
problems."!

Adult education is a critical component of our educational system. It
includes short-term training, seminars, workshops, or specific course work
in an educational institution or in the workplace on a part-time basis’.
These activities enable adults to acquire new knowledge and skills or
update existing ones throughout their lives.

According to a recent national study, 32 percent of adults age 17 and
over were enrolled in a part-time educational activity over a 12-month
period in 1990-917, Even among senior citizens, 11 percent participated
in such educational activities, indicating that leaming is a lifelong
process.

Participants cited various reasons for participating in adult education.
Most frequently, they wanted to improve, advance, or keep up-to-date in
their current job. Others included personal enrichment, training for a new
job, and obtaining a diploma or a degree. The reasons cited depended on
the participants’ age, sex, race-ethnicity, and educational attainment. For
example, young adults were more likely than senior adults to participate
in adult education to obtain a diploma or degree or to train for a new job.

These findings are from the survey of educational activities of adults in
the United States, a component of the 1991 National Household
Education Survey (NHES:91), administered by the National Center for

U.S. Department of Education

Office of Educational Research and Improvement NCES 93-451



Education Statistics (NCES), U.S. Department of
Education. This survey, as described in the
methodology section, has provided a rich
database for examining adult education issues. In
this report, adult education is defined as any
part-time enrollment in any educational activity
at any time in a 12-month period by individuals
17 years of age and older. As part of the report
series on adult education, this analysis focuses
on the extent of participation by main reasons.
Results are highlighted below.

Forthcoming reports will discuss adult education
participation by those employed and the type of
job-related courses they took. They will also
discuss providers, sources of support, and
bartiers to participation.

Total Adult Population

The participation rate is the ratio of the number
of adult education participants to the
corresponding non-institutionalized, civilian adult
population. In NHES:91, each adult was asked
whether he or she enrolled in any educational
courses on a part-time basis. Each person gave
detailed information on up to a maximum of four
courses and a main reason for enrolling in each
course.

In this report, a participation rate was calculated
for each of the main reasons for participating. If
a person gave the same reason for all courses, he
or she was counted only once in the calculation
of the participation rate for that reason. On the
other hand, if a participant gave a different
reason for each course, the person was counted
in the calculation of the participation rate for
each reason. Thus, the overall participation rate
is not equal to the sum of the participation rates
for main reasons.

Of the total adult population 17 years old and
over, 32 percent enrolled in some kind of adult
education during the 12 months preceding the
survey in the spring of 1991.

Most people participated in adult education for
job-related reasons. As shown in table 1, job
improvement was the most frequently cited
reason. Some 19 percent of the total adult
population took at least one course to improve,
advance, or keep up with their current job. This
was followed by 10 percent who took at least
one adult education course for personal, family,
or social reasons. In addition, 4 percent indicated
getting a diploma or degree as a main reason,
and 3 percent indicated training for a new job.

As expected, participation rates differed by
individual characteristics, including age, sex,
race-ethnicity, and educational attainment. Any
group differences cited in the text are statistically
significant at the .05 level.

Differences by Age

Participation rates varied by age. As shown in
table 1, the overall participation rates gradually
increased from 28 percent for adults age 17 to 19
to 48 percent for those age 40 to 44 and then
decreased to 11 percent for those 65 and older.

Similar to the overall participation rate, the rate
for job improvement peaked during the mid-
career of individuals (figure 1). The rates were
27 percent, 32 percent, and 28 percent for age 35
to 39, 40 to 44, and 45 to 49, respectively. The
participation rate gradually declined after age 55
and dropped to 2 percent for 65 and older.

Data also show that younger adults, as expected,
were more likely than older adults to participate
in adult education for getting a diploma or a
degree, to train for a new job or career, or to
improve basic skills. As presented in table 1, 7
percent of adults age 17 to 19 participated in
adult education to train for a new job as
compared to 2 percent of adults age 55 to 59.

As for adult education classes to enhance
personal, family, or social life, no clear
differences among age groups emerged. The

participation rates fluctuated between 7 and i4