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EFF RESEARCH TO PRACTICE NOTE

EFF Research Principle:

A Purposeful and Transparent Approach 

to Teaching and Learning By Marilyn K. Gillespie

What Do We Mean by a Purposeful and Transparent Approach?

T

he first key research principle underlying the Equipped for the Future

system reform initiative emphasizes its purposeful approach to teaching and learning. Purposeful learning is integral to every step of the

teaching and learning process. The first step in EFF-based instruction

involves asking learners to examine their broad purposes for learning

in relationship to their roles as workers, as parents and family members, and as citizens and community members. The EFF Role Maps and the Common Activities

that encompass all three roles provide a common language to talk about these

broader “big-picture” purposes. From this base, adults can identify more specific

goals that will allow them to achieve those purposes. The EFF Content Standards

provide a guide to the knowledge, skills, and learning strategies that learners will

need to reach the goals. Teachers and learners then decide together on specific

learning activities that will enable learners to strengthen their knowledge and skills

in the EFF Standard or Standards that are most critical to achievement of their

goals. This intentional and purpose-driven approach to planning creates the conditions for teachers to make explicit both what will be learned and what good performance will look like. In this way, the process and goals of learning are

transparent to everyone involved.

Since the tools that make up the EFF Framework were developed through a broad

national consensus-building process involving hundreds of adult learners, they

connect individual learner goals to the broader, more fundamental purposes of

the larger community. These include our National Goal for Literacy and Lifelong

Learning, that every adult American will be literate and will possess the knowledge

and skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise the rights and

responsibilities of citizenship.

This Research to Practice Note summarizes the growing body of research that supports a purposeful and transparent approach to learning, including findings that

demonstrate that:

• Learning itself is a purposeful, goal-directed activity. An ongoing goalsetting process is integral to effective learning.

• Purposeful and transparent learning builds on learners’ prior knowledge and

experiences to construct new knowledge.

• Purposeful and transparent learning also means that learners monitor and

assess their own progress. Metacognitive strategies help them to be mindful of

what is being learned and what good performance looks like.

The EFF publication Results

That Matter: An EFF Approach

to Quality presents five key principles that reflect the theoretical

foundations of EFF. Program

practices that support these

principles provide guideposts

by which programs, teachers,

students, and their communities

can assess their implementation

of the EFF Framework. They

help practitioners to better

answer the questions “What

does it mean to practice EFF?”

and “What does EFF implementation look like in action?”

These Research to Practice

Notes will help you to:

• identify the research basis for

the principles;

• learn key concepts and terms

associated with the principles;

• see examples of how other

programs have implemented

the program practices;

• reflect on how you and your

program can implement the

program practices.

National Institute for Literacy

1775 I Street NW, Suite 730

Washington, DC 20006

TEL 202.233.2025

FAX 202.233.2050

WEB www.nifl.gov
EFF RESEARCH TO PRACTICE NOTE 1

2 EFF Research Principle: A Purposeful and Transparent Approach to Teaching and Learning

What Research Says about Purposeful and Transparent Learning

Learning is a purposeful, goal-directed activity.

Within the field of cognitive science, meaning is understood as something we

impose on the world, rather than something that exists independently of ourselves. Beginning with Piaget, numerous researchers have demonstrated that

human beings are, by nature, active problem solvers who seek out learning in

order to make meaning of the world around them (Piaget, 1970; Bruner, 1986;

Fosnot, 1992; Wenger, 1998). We undertake learning activities “not merely as

ends in themselves but as means for achieving larger objectives and goals that

have meaning in the community” (Scribner, 1987). Learning is a process of

constructing new knowledge on the basis of our current knowledge to meet

our socially determined purposes for learning (Glaser, 1992; Duffy &

Jonassen, 1992).

Goal setting and persistence. In light of this research, more attention is now

being given to involving students in setting their own goals for learning. Within

adult education, the role of goal setting has been underscored by recent research

on what helps adult literacy and English for Speakers of Other Languages

(ESOL) learners to persist in adult education programs. As they followed adult

learners over time, Comings, Parrella, and Soricone (2000) found that adults

who were able to identify more clearly their purposes for learning, such as “help

my children” or “get a better job,” were much more likely to persist than those

who either mentioned no specific purpose or simply said they were doing it for

themselves. According to these researchers, learners who establish concrete goals

and are given the opportunity to see that they are making measurable progress

toward them are more able to persist in their efforts (and stay in programs) long

enough to reach them.

Purposeful learning in the EFF Content Framework. Programs using EFF

build on these research findings by helping learners to identify their purposes

and goals for learning at multiple stages in the teaching and learning cycle. Like

most programs, they ask learners to name their goals during initial program

intake, but this is only the beginning of a more extensive goal-setting process.

Students are introduced to the EFF Framework, including the four Purposes for

Learning, the Role Maps, and the Common Activities. These provide a common language to help learners create a detailed “big picture” of their underlying

purposes for learning. For example, students who name “getting my GED” are

encouraged to look beyond passing the test to examine the goals it will help

them to reach. If their goals are within the worker role, they may explore the

need for postsecondary job training and then use the EFF Standards Wheel to

determine that they need to develop skills in the Content Standards Plan and

Learn Through Research to get into and succeed in community college. In a

group learning situation, the group members work to reach a consensus on

shared priorities. Together with their teacher, they then plan learning activities

How Cognitive Science

Informs EFF

Researchers have recently made

great progress in understanding

how people think and learn. In the

last few years, there has been an

extraordinary growth in scientific

work on the mind and brain. We

now have ways to study not only

the products of thinking and

learning but also the processes

by which people acquire new

information, such as the neural

processes that occur during

thought and learning and the

process through which people

develop competence and expertise. The multidisciplinary group of

researchers who have conducted

this work have coined a term for

the study of thinking and learning:

cognitive science. Cognitive 

science research represents one

of the key conceptual underpinnings of the EFF Framework for

teaching, learning, and assessment and provides the research

basis for the constructivist theory

of learning. For teachers who

would like to read more about

cognitive science research, the

National Academy of Sciences

has produced three publications

that synthesize this work and its

implications for education: How

People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, by Bransford,

Brown, and Cocking (1999); How

People Learn: Bridging Research

and Practice, by Donovan, Bransford, and Pellegrino (1999); and

Knowing What Students Know:

The Science and Design of 

Educational Assessment, by 

Pellegrino, Chudowsky, and

Glaser (2001).
EFF RESEARCH TO PRACTICE NOTE 1

EFF Research Principle: A Purposeful and Transparent Approach to Teaching and Learning 3

that will help them work on those goals. At

this stage, learners also become involved in

the identification of what good performance related to their goals will look like.

In this manner, activities become learner

driven, transparent, and purposeful.

Purposeful learning builds on learners’ prior knowledge. 

Cognitive research has shown that learning is not simply a process of “knowledge

acquisition” but an active process of “knowledge construction” in which learners

use their prior knowledge and experience to shape meaning and construct new

knowledge (Lambert & Walker, 1995). (See Research to Practice Note 2 for more

details on constructivist teaching and learning.) Teachers need to activate the

prior knowledge of learners by helping them to articulate what they already know

about a given topic and build on these ideas in ways that help students achieve a

more expert understanding. For example, research with children has shown that

when many young students are taught that the earth is round, they often do not

fully grasp this new information. Many hold onto a mental model of the earth as

flat by imagining a round earth to be shaped like a pancake (Vosniadou & Brewer,

1989). Only when teachers directly address learners’ prior knowledge of the earth

as being flat are they able to help students develop a more complete understanding

of the shape of the earth. If teachers do not involve learners in naming and analyzing those prior conceptions, research shows that students may fail to grasp the new

concepts or may learn them for a test but revert to their preconceptions outside

the classroom (Donovan, Bransford, & Pellegrino, 1999).

Goal setting and self-assessment. Within the EFF teaching and learning cycle, once

learners’ goals have been established, they begin a process of self-assessment in relation to the EFF Content Standard they have decided to work on. They may first use

brainstorming or other techniques to name and validate,

as individuals and as a group, what they already

know. This process helps them to begin to

examine and revise their existing mental

models of the subject matter. For example, learners who think writing is mostly

about “spelling all the words right” may

learn that spelling is only one part of a

much larger writing “process.”

Purposeful and transparent learning means 

that learners monitor and assess their own progress.

A purposeful and transparent approach to teaching and learning requires that

learners have a clear understanding of the purposes for each learning activity and

monitor their own progress. For example, the Standard Listen Actively includes

monitoring comprehension and integrating information from listening with prior

For reflection...

• What kind of goal setting takes place 

within your program? 

• How are your students involved in 

setting the goals and activities 

they will work on?

In Other People’s Words: The

Cycle of Low Literacy (1995),

Purcell-Gates chronicles the

story of what can happen when

literacy learning is divorced from

broader purposes and everyday

roles. Jenny, a white urban

Appalachian mother, came to

Purcell-Gates for help with 

literacy for herself and her son.

At 31, she and her husband

had created a full life for themselves, but one in which literacy

played very little part. When

Purcell-Gates met her, Jenny

had been attending adult 

education classes off and on 

for four years. She showed 

Purcell-Gates her books, which

contained short reading 

passages, comprehension

questions, and fill-in-the-blank

exercises. Although she was

able to read workbooks written

at the fourth-grade reading

level, she had transferred none

of this knowledge to her everyday life. She had never written

anything on her own, for her

own purposes, besides her

name, a few notations on the

calendar, and her address.

When Purcell-Gates suggested

to Jenny that she write in a

journal and read her own writing, “She looked at me with an

expression of stunned awareness. ‘Why, I ain’t never read

my own words before!’ she

exclaimed softly...‘That’s all I

ever really did was copy stuff,

you know, from a book.’” 

For reflection...

• How could you use the EFF 

Framework to begin to work with 

students with limited literacy skills?

• In what ways do you find out about the

prior knowledge of learners you teach?

How might you use the EFF Framework 

to help to draw on and address their 

prior knowledge? 
EFF RESEARCH TO PRACTICE NOTE 1

4 EFF Research Principle: A Purposeful and Transparent Approach to Teaching and Learning

knowledge to address the listening purpose. One way teachers help

learners to do this is by improving their awareness of metacognitive

processes of learning.

The importance of metacognitive awareness. Metacognition refers

to our capacity to be aware of our own thinking processes and to

monitor and control our thinking relative to the cognitive tasks we

are performing (Greeno, Resnick, & Collins, 1997). For example, you

are using your metacognitive skills when you monitor your understanding while you are reading, when you go back and reread passages you don’t understand, and when you decide when and under

what conditions to consult a dictionary. Cognitive research has

demonstrated that most experts have strong metacognitive skills in

relation to their field of expertise. They make “mental notes” when

they need more information. They observe whether what they are

learning is consistent with what they already know, and they monitor

what they are learning to see whether it meets their purposes (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999).

Metacognitive strategies can be taught. Since metacognition often

takes the form of an internal dialogue, until recently it was assumed

that individuals simply had to develop this capability on their own.

Today, however, new research tools are available that allow researchers

to closely monitor what experts do and think as they work. It is now

clear that the kinds of metacognitive skills that experts in a given subject area use can be identified. New approaches to teaching these

metacognitive strategies to novices are being developed every day

(Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999).

The EFF Framework is designed to help students develop their

metacognitive awareness by making the metacognitive aspects of

learning transparent. Metacognitive skills associated with “good

performance” are written into the Components of Performance for

the EFF Standards. Students begin their work on a Standard by

identifying what they already know about the topic. Next, they

closely examine what good performance looks like. They develop

their own learning checklists so they can plan and monitor their

understanding as they are practicing new skills. They also

learn how to evaluate how well they are performing in relation to the Standard through the use of scoring guides they

help to develop, teacher interviews, portfolios, and other

learner-centered assessment tools. (See Research to Practice

Note 2 for more information about metacognitive strategies.) 

For reflection...

• Think about your own metacognitive processes. What

kinds of strategies do you use to monitor and assess your

own learning as a teacher?

• Look at the Components of Performance for several EFF

Standards. How is metacognitive awareness built into 

the language of the components?

I found I had to be much more keenly

aware of where my learners began and then

where they are now. I felt much more in

touch with what my learners needed (time

to reflect or for the peer leadership that

occurred) and felt more like it was a

respected classroom. I’ve always been

unsure of what student-centered is, and

then this summer’s group really showed me

how the balance needs to happen between

teacher and learner. This process also has

made me understand how important it is

to know where the learner begins through

observation or through learner assessment.

I used their strengths to plan and 

incorporate discussions where before I

wouldn’t have been as aware of the process

the learners were going through, and I 

worried more about how I was doing 

rather than how they were progressing.

—Jennifer Ladd, Atkinson, Maine

This task was successful because the 

students inspired it. They were invested in

this activity [writing to request funds for

community service]. They were hopeful we

would see results. They could see the value

in learning to write a business letter, and

most of them felt they would be able to

write letters on their own in the future...

The students would pepper me with 

questions about our project. They wanted

to know if I’d sent the letters or if I’d heard

any response. They were talking about it

every day.

—Joanna Elizondo, Seattle, Washington
EFF RESEARCH TO PRACTICE NOTE 1

EFF Research Principle: A Purposeful and Transparent Approach to Teaching and Learning 5

Program Practices That Support Purposeful Teaching and Learning

Results That Matter: An Approach to Program Quality Using Equipped for the Future

(Bingman & Stein, 2001) provides a vision for program-level system reform

(referred to as the EFF Quality Model). The EFF Quality Model identifies Program

Practices that reflect the theoretical foundations of EFF and provides a guidepost

by which administrators, teachers, students, and communities can assess their

implementation of the EFF Framework. As you reflect on the examples below,

think about how your program might answer the questions “What does it mean to

practice EFF?” and “What does EFF implementation look like in action?”

During their intake process, adult ESOL learners often identify goals related to

communicating in their family and community life. A common concern is using

English when one “goes to the doctor.” Alysan Croydan, a teacher from the Refugee

Women’s Alliance of Seattle, Washington, describes how the EFF Framework helped

her to delve more deeply to understand students’ specific needs related to obtaining

medical care.

After Alysan’s students expressed the need to improve their ability to make appointments with doctors, they began working on the EFF Standard Speak So Others Can

Understand by practicing dialogues in English. After they finished the activity, Alysan

was surprised when many students continued to name making appointments with doctors as their goal. Using the EFF Framework, she asked them to reflect on what was still

difficult about making an appointment. It became clear that the real issue was not just

making an appointment, but finding a time that would fit their work and childcare

schedules. Going beyond the scripted dialogues, she began teaching them how to negotiate an appointment time and troubleshoot scheduling problems.

This activity might lead Alysan and her students toward work on other EFF Standards.

For example, they might use the EFF Standard Solve Problems and Make Decisions to

improve their skills related to addressing scheduling problems. The Components of

Performance for this Standard guide students to anticipate or identify problems; use

information from diverse sources to arrive at a clearer understanding of the problem

and its root causes; generate alternative solutions; and select an alternative that is most

appropriate to goal, context, and available resources. Depending on their needs,

the students might decide to move on to another EFF Standard, such as Advocate 

and Influence, in order to work with their employers to allow for time off for 

doctor visits.

A close investigation of students’ complex purposes for learning using the

EFF Standards not only helped Alysan to better understand their needs,

but also helped to clarify what needed to be learned. As what they needed to

learn became clear, they were better able to judge their own progress toward

reaching their goals.

EXAMPLE 1: 

Students use the EFF

Framework to clarify

their purposes for 

learning and to identify

strengths and gaps in

the skills and knowledge

necessary to achieve

their purposes and

goals.

For reflection...

Look at the Components of Performance 

for each of the EFF Standards.

• What is the common thread of purposeful

learning in each one? 

• How do the other components in each

Standard build on the initial naming 

of a real-life purpose or goal?
EFF RESEARCH TO PRACTICE NOTE 1

6 EFF Research Principle: A Purposeful and Transparent Approach to Teaching and Learning

Gail Hemsoth of Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon, teaches adults in a

local welfare to work program. After a discussion of the EFF Standards, these students decided that they wanted to think more about how to develop skills related to the

Standard Speak So Others Can Understand. With Gail’s help in simplifying the language,

they looked over the Components of Performance for this Standard: Determine the

purpose for communicating; Organize and relay information to effectively serve the

purpose, context, and listener; Pay attention to conventions of oral English communication, including grammar, word choice, register, pace, and gesture in order to minimize barriers to listener’s comprehension; and Use multiple strategies to monitor the

effectiveness of the communication. Then they worked in small groups to brainstorm

examples of tasks from their own lives where they needed to use these skills. Overnight,

Gail compiled the task examples from all the groups and the next day asked the groups

to rank the tasks in order of difficulty. When they finished, each learner established his

or her own goals related to the Standard. For example, one woman was going to be

starting a job soon in which she would have to give presentations on domestic violence.

Another woman wanted to speak more confidently at job interviews.

Once the group became clear on their own personal goals, they began thinking about

how they could plan a common activity that would allow them all to work together on

the Standard. All the students recognized that they needed more practice in speaking in

front of a group. They decided that since almost everyone also needed to spend more

time identifying jobs that would interest them, they would combine these two goals by

researching interesting jobs and then making a presentation about what they

learned to the whole class.

Together they discussed what a good oral presentation to the class would look

like. They discussed how to tailor their talk to their audience, how they would

know if they were being understood, and whether or not to use the overhead

projector or handouts. Then they created a checklist that the audience would

use to evaluate the presentation. After everyone was done, they reflected individually and as a group about what they had learned and what they would do next in

order to become more expert at speaking-related tasks.

Program administrator Jane Knight of Knox County Adult Literacy Program in

Knoxville, Tennessee, describes how she and the teachers in her program used the

framework as a common language to solve problems. Over Christmas break, Jane was

able to set aside four weeks for the team to learn about EFF and create an action plan. At

first, teachers felt a bit overwhelmed and worried about what changes would be required,

but over time they learned to use the EFF tools and became more confident. Bringing on

new teachers, however, was sometimes harder. For example, in one class, made up of exoffenders, there had been a lot of teacher turnover. The students came to Jane with a list

of complaints they felt the new teacher, who had been in the class for only four days, had

not solved. Jane and another teacher experienced with EFF decided to visit the class. They

EXAMPLE 2: 

Teachers use the 

EFF Framework to 

structure a goal-setting/

needs-assessment 

dialogue with students. 

For reflection...

• How might the experiences of

learners in Gail’s program have been 

different if she had simply assigned 

them the task of making presentations 

about jobs on the first day of class rather 

than asking them to decide on the 

activity?

• How do you help learners to come to 

consensus about learning activities 

they can work on together?

EXAMPLE 3: 

Teachers use EFF as 

a common language 

to discuss how their 

instructional practice 

supports attainment of

student goals and 

purposes.
EFF RESEARCH TO PRACTICE NOTE 1

EFF Research Principle: A Purposeful and Transparent Approach to Teaching and Learning 7

encouraged the students to use the Standard Solve Problems and Make Decisions to work

on their concerns. Students began to speak up about how difficult it was for them to make

it to the bus on time because they had to take their children to school. If they missed the

bus, the next one did not come until an hour later. As ex-offenders, these learners were

required to report their attendance to the court system. Being late resulted in a penalty. As

they worked together to generate alternatives, the students were able to see how, if everyone compromised a little, an effective solution could be found. This was a pivotal event

for the students, the new teacher, and the program. The students began to see that they

were part of a programwide community with their own set of responsibilities. The

new teacher was able to see how EFF worked in action. Growing out of this experience, the program decided to hold monthly Town Meetings where the students

and staff could discuss programwide issues.

For reflection...

• How could your program use EFF 

as a common language to plan and 

discuss your educational practices?

Cognitive science: The study of thinking and learning,

currently being contributed to by researchers in a wide variety

of disciplinary and multidisciplinary fields from developmental

psychology to medicine. (See Bransford, Brown, & Cocking,

1999.)

Common Activities: The term EFF uses to refer to those 

activities that adults perform in all three roles (worker, family

member, community member). The EFF team identified the 

13 Common Activities by looking across the Broad Areas of

Responsibility, the Key Activities, and the Role Indicators for

each Role Map. (See Stein, 2000, p. 14; Merrifield, 2000,

pp. 33-34.)

Content Standards: The term used in a variety of fields to

describe what individuals need to know and be able to do for a

particular purpose. In EFF, the 16 Content Standards identify

what adults need to know and be able to do in order to meet

their goals for learning and to be effective in their adult roles.

Each EFF Content Standard consists of the title of the standard

and the Components of Performance for that standard. (See

EFF Standards, Stein, 2000, pp. 19-20.)

EFF Quality Model: A vision of what system reform at the 

program level looks like using EFF Standards. The EFF tools,

foundational theory and research, expected program practices,

and predicted short- and long-term outcomes are presented

and explained in the publication Results That Matter: An

Approach to Program Quality Using Equipped for the Future

(Bingman & Stein, 2001). Ordering and downloading 

information can be found at http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/

collections/eff/eff_publications.html.

Mental model: An individual’s existing understanding and

interpretation of a given concept, which is formed and

reformed on the basis of experiences, beliefs, values, sociocultural histories, and prior perceptions (Lambert & Walker, 1995,

p. 1). Our mental models (or schemas) affect how we interpret

new concepts and events.

Metacognition: The capacity to reflect on one’s own thinking

(Greeno, Resnick, & Collins, 1997, p. 19). Metacognitive strategies include monitoring our thinking and understanding while

we work, checking to see if what we are learning is consistent

with what we already know, and making analogies that will

help our understanding (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999).

National Education Goal 6: One of the National Education

Goals identified by the 50 governors and President George

Bush at an education summit in 1989 and later enacted by

Congress as part of the Goals 2000 Act. Goal 6 is the only goal

directly related to adult learning and is often referred to as the

Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning Goal. A congressional

mandate to measure progress toward Goal 6 was the impetus

for the development of EFF. (See Stein, 2000, pp. 5-7.)

Prior knowledge: The knowledge one already has about a

given topic. Prior knowledge may include accurate as well as

inaccurate preconceptions about how the world works. Activating learners’ prior knowledge about a topic and involving them

in revising or building on it is an essential step in effective

learning. (See Hartman, 2001.)

Purposeful approach to education: Teaching and learning that

is designed specifically around the goals and purposes of

students in their real-life roles as family members, community

Glossary
EFF RESEARCH TO PRACTICE NOTE 1

8 EFF Research Principle: A Purposeful and Transparent Approach to Teaching and Learning

References 

• Bingman, B., & Stein, S. (2001). Results that matter: 

An EFF approach to quality using Equipped for the Future.

Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy.

(http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/collections/eff/results_that_

matter.pdf)

• Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.).

(1999). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school.

Washington, DC: National Academy Press. (http://books.nap.

edu/html/howpeople1/) 

• Bruner, J. (1986). Actual minds, possible worlds. Cambridge,

MA: Harvard University Press.

• Comings, J., Parrella, A., & Soricone, L. (2000, March).

Helping adults persist: Four supports. Focus on Basics, 4(A),

1-6.

• Donovan, M. S., Bransford, J. D., & Pellegrino, J. W. (Eds.).

(1999). How people learn: Bridging research and practice.

Washington, DC: National Academy Press. (http://bob.nap.

edu/books/0309065364/html/) 

• Duffy, T. M., & Jonassen, D. H. (1992). Constructivism and

the technology of instruction. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum

Associates.

• Fosnot, C. T. (1992). Constructivism: Theory, perspectives, and

practice. New York: Teachers College Press.

• Glaser, R. (1992). Expert knowledge and processes of thinking. In D. F. Halpern (Ed.), Enhancing thinking skills in the

sciences and mathematics. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

• Greeno, J. G., Resnick, L. B., & Collins, A. M. (1997).

Cognition and learning. In D. Berliner & R. Calfee (Eds.),

Handbook of educational psychology (pp. 15-46). New York:

Simon & Shuster Macmillan.

• Hartman, H. J. (2001). Metacognition in learning and 

instruction: Theory, research and practice. Boston: Kluwer

Academic Publishers.

• Lambert, L., & Walker, D. (1995). Learning and leading 

theory: A century in the making. In L. Lambert, D. Walker, D.

Zimmerman, J. Cooper, M. Lambert, M. Gardner, & P. Slack,

The constructivist leader (pp. 1-27). New York: Teachers 

College Press.

• Merrifield, J. (2000). Equipped for the Future research report:

Building the framework, 1993-1997. Washington, DC:

National Institute for Literacy. (http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/

collections/eff/merrifield_eff.pdf)

• Pellegrino, J. W., Chudowsky, N., & Glaser, R. (Eds.). (2001).

Knowing what students know: The science and design of educational assessment. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

(http://bob.nap.edu/books/0309072727/html/)

• Piaget, J. (1970). Structuralism. New York: Basic Books.

• Purcell-Gates, V. (1995). Other people’s words: The cycle of low

literacy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

• Resnick, L. B. (1989). Introduction. In L. B. Resnick (Ed.),

Knowing, learning, and instruction: Essays in honor of Robert

Glaser (pp. 1-24). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

• Scribner, S. (1987, April). Head and hand: An action approach

to thinking. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the

Eastern Psychological Association, Arlington, VA. ERIC ED

293 999.

• Stein, S. G. (1995). Equipped for the Future: A customer 

driven vision for adult literacy and lifelong learning. Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy.

• Stein, S. G. (2000). Equipped for the Future Content Standards.

Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy.

• Vosniadou, S., & Brewer, W. F. (1989). The concept of Earth’s

shape: A study of conceptual change in childhood. Unpublished

paper. Center for the Study of Reading, University of Illinois,

Champaign.

• Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning,

meaning, and identity. New York: Cambridge University

Press.

members, and workers. A purposeful approach assumes 

intentionality, explicitness, and transparency in the learning

environment. The EFF Standards contribute to purposeful

learning because they make explicit and transparent the skills

adults need to meet their goals and purposes. (See Bingman 

& Stein, 2001; Merrifield, 2000, p. 9.)

Purposes for Learning: The four fundamental purposes that

adults offer as reasons for furthering their literacy education.

The four Purposes for Learning are (1) Access and Orientation,

(2) Voice, (3) Independent Action, and (4) Bridge to the

Future. These purposes drive learning across the different contexts of adult life and capture the social and cultural significance of learners’ specific, individual goals (Merrifield, 2000,

pp. 13-17). (See Stein, 1995; Stein, 2000, pp. 5-6.)

Role Map: A publicly agreed to, explicit, consensus depiction 

of the adult roles of worker, parent/family member, and 

citizen/community member. For each adult role, the Role Map

provides definitions of the Broad Areas of Responsibility, Key

Activities, and Role Indicators, which describe, not prescribe,

effective performance in the role. (See Stein, 2000, pp. 8-13.)

Transparent approach: An approach to teaching and learning

in which the goals and purposes of learning, what will be

learned, and what good performance looks like are clear and

explicit to students, teachers, administrators, and other stakeholders. The EFF Standards are important in this approach

because they clearly define the skills adults need to meet their

goals and purposes.