Program attrition has been a major concern of adult education practitioners and researchers for a considerable period of time. Despite several studies, however, there has been little progress in understanding the phenomenon of adult dropout. There are several reasons for this state of affairs: (a) the complexity of the phenomenon; (b) lack of consensus on how "dropout" should be defined; and (c) very few theory-based studies.

While program attrition affects most adult education programs, ABE has been plagued by high rates of absenteeism and student turnover. Mezirow et al (1975) found in their survey that one in five instructors "estimated absenteeism in the 10 to 24 percent range and nearly a quarter reported 25 to 49 percent of the students absent at any one class session." (p. 67). "Two-fifths of the teachers estimated that 10 to 24 percent of their students drop out by the sixth week of class. Another 17 percent placed the dropout rate in their classes during the first five weeks in the 25 to 49 percent range" (p. 68). The authors go on to say that these estimates are conservative as students continue to drop out after the initial weeks.

In Mezirow's survey, instructors were given five reasons for dropout and asked to rank them in importance. 'York schedule" was considered the most important reason by 58 percent of the respondents. "Discouragement over lack of progress" was considered the number one cause by 17 percent of the instructors. "Child care" was considered most important by 15 percent and "moving away" was ranked first by 10 percent. The fifth reason "fear for personal safety" was apparently not mentioned.

Thomas (1976) in her survey of a limited number of programs in Ontario, estimated dropout to be between 22 and 50 percent from data yielded at that time. She found that among instructors, "health reasons" topped the list of factors contributing to dropout. This was followed by employment-related reasons, academic achievement, and personal factors. Among program administrators, employment opportunities and academic achievements were seen as most important, followed by personal factors.