National Household Education Survey

The number of adults participating in adult education has risen, according to the National Households Education Surveys of 2001. Although this data is a little old, it provides an accurate assessment of the adult continuing education market today.

This survey was conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education. Some revealing statistics included the following facts:

1. Participation in adult education has increased - from 40% in 1995, to 46% in 2001.

2. More women than men participate - 49 percent of women and 43 percent of men engaged in some type of educational activity.

3. More adults aged 50 or younger participate - adults in three age groups between 16 - 50 partipated between 53 - 55 percent compared to 41 percent for adults aged 51 - 65 and 22 percent for adults 66 and older.

4. Prior educational attainment is positively related to participation in adult education - 22 percent of adults who had not completed high school participated, compared to 34 percent with high school diploma or equivalent; 48 percent with some college education and 66 percent with bachelor's degree or more.

5. Employment is related to participation - employed adults were more likely to participate (54 percent) than unemployed (25 percent).

Tomorrow we will look at the various segments of adult education as described the survey. This information provided is a public service of Gatlin Education Services.