In fiscal 1973, Ohio elected to concentrate training for staff in adult basic education (ABE) in eight cities. A review of records indicated that 143 ABE teachers in 5 of those cities attended 1 to 4 workshops that year. This study sought to answer three questions about these teachers: their long-term (7 years or more) retention in adult education; reasons for leaving the program for those who did; and the impact of ABE staff development on persons still teaching in public school but no longer in ABE. Through directors of ABE programs in 5 cities, it was found that 45 persons remained active after 7 years; of those who left the program, 71.5 percent (70) did so immediately or in the 2 years following the inservice training. Most of these who had left ABE had taken full time employment in elementary or secondary education, while 28 percent had left education entirely. Personal reasons accounted for the rest of the group of leavers. Through interviews with 12 persons still in ABE and 8 who had left, it was determined that statewide or regional programs of inservice education had more effect on their development than local programs. The researchers concluded that few conclusions about cause and effect could be drawn about the impact of inservice education, but that the whole ABE system should be viewed as a "loosely coupled system" before the impact of inservice education can become strong, important, and more immediately related to practice. (KC)