Attendance Patterns and Dropouts in Adult Night School Classes

Abstract

Eleven characteristics of dropouts were examined in relation to attendance patterns using registration data from 98 courses enrolling 2,075 persons in a public adult night school pro gram. The average daily attendance for all courses was 63.5 per cent. Subject matter and length of course appeared to account for many of the differences in attendance patterns observed. General interest course maintained attendance better than academic or vo cational courses and those of ten sessions or less had a greater holding power than longer courses. The dropouts constituted 27.8 per cent of the original enrollment. In general, the persistent at- tenders were older, married housewives who had children, while the dropouts were younger and usually single.