Abstract
Purpose. This study was designed to determine the goal priorities of ABE students for participating in three ABE programs; to determine the program goal priorities expressed by the staff of the three programs; to examine the congruence or noncongruence between the priorities of students' participation goals and the program goals at the three programs; and to research identified variables of the adult students' age, sex, race, program participation level and previous educational experience with the clusters of participation goals. Methodology. The Educational Goals and Objectives questionnaire was used to assess adult student participation goals and staff program goals. Three hundred students and all the staff members from three ABE learning centers in Alameda County, California. Respondents estimated the magnitude of importance of the goals. Magnitude estimation techniques produces ratio data with no threshold limits so the geometric mean of each goal was calculated. One-way analysis of variance and the T-test were used to see if there were significant differences. The 0.5 level of significance was used wherever appropriate to determine relationships. Findings. There was no distinction among goals by the students at each site. The students involved in this study, at all sites, seemed to want everything from an ABE program. The student goals were largely personal. They were interested in goals relating to family living, managing money and other resources, using leisure time, and appreciating beauty and culture. ABE staff rated the acquisition of basic skills and vocational skills as the key program goals of ABE. Conclusions. ABE students in this study expressed a broad and varied range of participation goals. The data indicated that the staff understood the educational goals of the participants although several marked differences were observed. The student respondent goals were largely personal and the staff rated the acquisition of basic skills and vocational skills as the key goals of ABE. All ABE personnel need to be involved with the assessment of student goals both upon the student's entrance to the program and during the design of the individual participant's course of study and during the evaluation of the participant's attainment of his/her goals.