A Study of Adult Education Participants in Green Bay, Wisconsin

Abstract

THE ADMINISTRATORS of agencies of adult education in Green Bay meet monthly as members of the Brown County Council of Adult Education. They represent the Green Bay School of Voca tional and Adult Education, Brown County Cooper ative Extension Service, Young Men's Christian Association of Green Bay, Young Women's Chris tian Association of Green Bay, Kellogg Public Library, St. Norbert's College (DePere), Neville Public Museum and the Green Bay Center of the University of Wisconsin. Course offerings, teaching methods, promotion of courses and clientele are topics which have been discussed at these meetings. In 1960, the public or publics being served began to occupy an increasing amount of the group's interest. The members were conscious of criticism that some of the agencies seemed to be serving or trying to serve the same clientele. While the courses and programs offered by each agency are largely unique, there may in some instances be duplica tion. Concern about the nature of the clientele of their agencies motivated the members to perform the survey which is reported here. Most studies of adult education participants have reported data about registratrants of one agency. The Cooperative Extension Service, uni versity extension divisions, public adult schools and others have reported surveys of their own cli entele. Few studies have been reported which described or compared the adults who have util ized programs, courses or services offered by the major adult education agencies in one commun ity. While data drawn from statewide samples or populations is of interest to an administrator of an agency, it will not tell him what he should know about the adult education participants in his com munity. The members of the Brown County Coun cil wanted to determine whether such a survey in their community was feasible. The council members felt they knew something of their clientele. They hoped the survey would confirm or deny the hypotheses they held. They also hoped to be able to plan future pro grams on the basis of participants' characteristics as discovered in the survey.