ADULT BASIC EDUCATION
Volume 3, Number 3, Spring 1994, 144 - 156

Grace V. Malicky
Charles A. Norman

ABSTRACT

Research generally shows that participation rates are low and dropout rates are high in adult literacy programs. This 3 year study in a Canadian context examined participation patterns of adults in literacy programs as well as past school experiences and reasons for entering and leaving literacy programs. Data collected from 94 subjects supported a multifaceted view of participation and persistence for adults in literacy programs. Higher dropout rates for Canadian-born than immigrant participants appeared to be more related to past school and home experiences than to amount of prior schooling or reasons for entering and leaving literacy programs.

Research generally shows low rates of participation in adult literacy programs accompanied by high dropout rates for those who do enroll.¹ In a survey undertaken for Southam News in Canada (Creative Research Group, 1987), a random sample of 2,398 persons from across all provinces were administered both an interview and a functional literacy test based on items from the National Assessment of Education Progress used in the United States (U.S.). Results of this survey revealed that few Canadian adults (only 16 percent) felt reading and writing skills were holding them back and even fewer (10 percent) indicated that they planned to participate in literacy classes. The study reported in this paper was conducted in Alberta, where statistics gathered from a survey of institutions providing literacy programs revealed that less than 1 percent of adults with grades 1 to 9 education were actually enrolled in literacy programs (Further Education Services, 1985). In fact, only 5.6 percent of adults with less than 9 years of schooling were enrolled in any type of adult education program, as compared to 25 percent for all adults. The problem of recruitment and retention is not unique to Canada; in the U.S. it is estimated that participation rates are 5 percent of the estimated 30 million illiterate adults and that attrition rates exceed 70 percent in some states (Quigley, 1992).

GRACE V. MALICKY is director of Reading and Language Center and professor of Elementary Education at the University of Alberta, Edmonton.
CHARLES A. NORMAN is Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Alberta, Alberta, Edmonton.