[AAACE-NLA] % or women enrolled in programs
Thomas Sticht
tsticht at znet.com
Wed Oct 13 13:38:45 EDT 2004
Here is a Research Note I posted in 2001 on the NLA list that has some
relevance to the issue at hand. Tom Sticht
Research Note: 4/7/01
Is the Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) of the United States
Meeting the Needs of Men?
Tom Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education
Measured Literacy Skills of Men and Women
The National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) reported in 1993 that there were
about equal percentages of males and females in Level 1 of the NALS in
each of the three literacy scales: Prose, Document, Quantitative and
overall average literacy proficiencies for males and females were similar
for the three scales, though females tend to be a little more skilled at
Prose and a little less skilled in Document and Quantitative tasks.
For those adults in the workforce, males generally scored lower on the
average than females (except on the quantitative scale), and on all three
scales of the NALS, a greater percentage of men scored in the lowest level
of literacy.
Perceived Literacy Skills of Men and Women
In the report on the Literacy of Older Adults in America NALS data
indicated that for those adults 16 to 59 years old, 8 percent of males
thought they did not read well or not at all compared to 5 percent of
females. For adults 60 years old and older, 10 percent of males and 7
percent of females thought they did not read well/not at all.
Participation in ESL,ABE, or ASE Programs
Over the years, women have consistently outnumbered men in adult
education. In 1993 men made up 47 and women 53 percent of enrollees; by
1999 men made up 45.5 and women 54.5 percent of AELS enrollees.
The National Evaluation of Adult Education (NEAE) programs reported in
1994 that of the new clients who enrolled in the Adult Education and
Literacy System (AELS) of the United States, those enrolling for ESL were
54 percent women and 46 percent men. Those enrolling in ABE and ASE
combined were 61 percent women and 39 percent men.
In Massachusetts in 1999, 61 percent of adult basic education system
students were women. In California, for the 1995-96 funding year, for a
sample of 106,000 participants in adult ESL/ABE public school district and
community college programs, 42 percent were males and 58 percent females.
Studies of GED takers in Iowa in 1992 indicated that 33 percent were men,
66 precent females. A study comparing NALS tests with GED tests indicated
that 42 percent of the sample were males and 58 percent were females and
these data are comparable to the population of GED takers.
The National Evaluation of Adult Education (NEAE) studies of No-Shows,
that is, those who originally signed up for but never attended classes
showed that males were 3 percent more likely to be No-Shows in ESL (but
this was not statistically reliable), 18 percent more likely to be
No-Shows in ASE, but 7 percent less likely than females to be a No-Show in
ABE.
Regarding persistence in attending their programs, the NEAE indicated that
males were less likely to be in the top quartile of persisters in ESL (2
percent less likely), ABE (14 percent less likely) and ASE (9 percent less
likely).
Age and Gender in the AELS
There is an interaction of age and gender in adult education enrollments
such that as age increases, the percentage of women enrollees increases.
In 1988, the last date for which I have data, men enrollees aged 16-24
outnumbered females by about 3 percentage points, but by age 60, women
outnumbered men by some 34 percent.
In summary, then, data concerning the issue of whether the AELS is
serving men well include the following generalizations gleaned from a
number of sources. In the adult population of the United States:
(1) Males make up a greater proportion of adults without a high school
diploma.
(2) Males in the workforce are less literate than females.
(3) Males are more likely to perceive themselves as not reading well.
(4) Males, particulary older ones, are less likely to enroll in AELS
programs.
(5) Males are less likely to show up for a program even if they enroll for
one.
(6) Males are less likely to persist in a program after their first hour
of instruction.
(7) Males are less likely to try for a GED.
These data raise serious questions about the relative effectiveness of
AELS programs for meeting the needs of men, particulary as men grow older.
Are there studies of this phenomenon of the age decrement in male
participation in AELS programs? What are some of the problems in
attracting men to AELS programs? Is this issue related to the differences
in the numbers of males and females in the AELS teaching corps? I do not
know of a general study of this issue about how well the AELS reaches,
recruits, retains, and educates males compared to females, and how this
might relate to race, ethnicity, and poverty.
In this age of segment marketing, it might be of benefit for the AELS in
preparing recruitment messages to have a great deal more information about
how to meet the needs of men, women, and other identifiable segments of
the adult population that make up the target population for the AELS.
Perhaps in redoing the very expensive, door-to-door National Assessment
of Adult Literacy Survey (NAALS) and using both prose and document scales,
one scale could be dropped (they correlate above +.90) and more time could
be spent determining adults self-perceived needs for adult education, what
might motivate them to attend, giving them information about how to find
an AELS program, and so forth. Similar surveys have recently been done in
the United Kingdom by the Basic Skills Agency and provide much useful
information beyond standardzied test scores.
Is this a significant policy issue for the field to be concerned about?
Thomas G. Sticht
Inernational Consultant in Adult Education
El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133
Email: tsticht at aznet.net
> HELP!
> Well, after further investigation, I DID find the mention of stats
> below on the NLA archives. However, after searching for quite some time
> through the OVAE I cannot find the direct reference for this
> information -- or any more current info. Can anyone (Tom S. ?) provide
> the direct reference for this info?
>
> btw - I looked for the National Literacy Summit 2000 info - and all
> links seems to go to some drug company - no doubt the work of current
> administration disappearing past docs!
> Mev
> -------------------------------
> archived email:
>
> NLA Info: Gender in the AELS
> David J Rosen DJRosen at world.std.com
> Sat Apr 7 14:27:14 EDT 2001
>
> Previous message: NLA Info: NLA List will be down April 15-22
> Next message: NLA Discussion: waiting lists/a program example
> Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]
> NLA Colleagues,
>
> Thanks to our colleagues at the U.S. DOE, here are the U.S. 1999 Adult
> Education and Literacy Enrollment Data for 1999.
>
> ========================================================================
>
> SOURCE: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
> OFFICE OF VOCATIONAL AND ADULT EDUCATION
> DIVISION OF ADULT EDUCATION AND LITERACY
> AUGUST 2000
>
> 1999 TOTAL % TOTAL %
> Enrollment MALE MALE FEMALE FEMALE
> 3,616,391 1,646,983 45.5 % 1,969,408 54.5%
>
> ===============================================================
>
> David J. Rosen
> NLA List Moderator
>
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