Hi Andrea, I hope Beth's link to the TLC tool kit and the Assessment 
Resources has been helpful in your quest.  I've only just had a chance 
to catch up on this discussion and want to thank David for pointing out 
that EFF is alive and well.  I've been a very small part of the EFF 
process since Maine began working on quality indicators for ABE 
purposes in the early 1990s, and have some experience and memories of 
what was done.

Yes, the initial question that the field research grew out of was Goal 
6 as mentioned, but I believe the question asked was what the goal 
meant to the adult learner.  The picture that their answers painted was 
of a person seeking to improve their abilities to perform what are 
known as the 4 Purposes, but the researcher who was working with the 
data pointed out that the learners clearly connected these skills to 
their own desires to raise their families in safe communities and have 
the kinds of employment that provided economic security.

Early in our process in Maine we did ask ourselves (adult education 
practitioners, students, agency partners, etc.) what kinds of roles 
adults saw themselves as playing.  We were hoping to define the skills 
needed to be successful in the "fill in the blank" role.  We ended up 
with a huge list, and when the national research whittled our list down 
to three, it took some getting used to.  However, the subsequent field 
research (next iteration) into those three roles satisfied us that 
these were the most essential in terms of what people come to ABE 
programs for, which is what the work was about.  There was discussion 
around the "existential" role, the "what we are when we aren't a 
worker, citizen, or family member" but the work didn't delve into that 
aspect because of time and funding.

Maine eventually became the lead state for the Worker Role Map, and I 
can verify that the term worker meant everyone from the part time 
volunteer to the top CEOs, in a variety of areas.  The guiding premise 
when seeking to uncover the traits of an exemplar (for all roles) was 
that they had to apply to all or they apply to none.

I realize that this is entirely anecdotal and not rigorous.  However, 
for the past two years I've been sitting on several committees in 
Maine's K-12 standards reform process, representing adult education, 
and while "content" in their lexicon has been equated with content area 
and disciplines, the context has been within the need for students to 
obtain skills for the 21st Century.  New national research is still 
referring to many of the documents and publications that EFF also used 
(Murnane and Levy, Fingeret, and others), and meeting these again in 
this new effort has been very validating of our EFF work.

I hope you are finding answers and the clarity you are seeking; I just 
felt compelled to put in my 2.5 cents!
Bonnie

Bonnie Fortini
Machias Adult & Community Education
c/o School Union 102
RR 1  Box 12-A
Machias, ME 04654
Phone/Fax (207) 255-4917