Since 1994 the National Institute for Literacy has led a collaborative, nationwide effort to develop adult learning standards that can guide instruction and assessment and improve the quality and results of adult literacy programs. The 16 Equipped for the Future standards define the knowledge and skills adults need in order to successfully carry out their roles as parents, citizens, and workers in the 21st Century. These skills include

Equipped for the Future is not another curriculum. It's a framework on which teachers and tutors who work with adults can weave a tapestry of learning experiences that really change the lives of adult students. EFF is meant to be real-world: what do adults need to be able to know and do as workers, parents and citizens?

Please follow the links below in order to learn more about EFF. These links are part of the National Institute for Literacy's web site on EFF. After studying the information on each page, close the new browser window that opened and return to this page to follow another link

Getting started with EFF
http://eff.cls.utk.edu/fundamentals/default.htm

Content Standards
http://eff.cls.utk.edu/fundamentals/eff_standards.htm

To best understand the content standards, click here to see the standands arranged in a wheel format. You can click on an individual skill or standard for more information.

Four Purposes for Learning
http://eff.cls.utk.edu/fundamentals/purposes.htm

EFF Role Maps
http://eff.cls.utk.edu/fundamentals/eff_roles.htm

Common Activities
http://eff.cls.utk.edu/fundamentals/common_activities.htm

The EFF Teaching/Learning Toolkit provides practitioners with resources to use the EFF Teaching/Learning Cycle in adult education settings. Click here to view the EFF toolkit:

Especially helpful are the examples of how to use EFF in actual adult literacy situations. Click here to see how tutors and teachers are using EFF:

There is a lot of information on the EFF website and some of it may be overwhelming. The following site - A Busy Teacher's Guide to EFF Lesson Planning, will further explain EFF and show how to develop a lesson plan based on EFF (includes a sample lesson plan).

http://www.aelweb.vcu.edu/publications/teacher_guide/TOC.htm

Here are some resources that you can download and print to use with your students:

Content Standards Wheel

Family Role Map

Worker Role Map

Citizen Role Map

EFF Hot Topics Newsletter on the standard "Read With Understanding". This publication includes some excellent information on the latest research on reading instruction for adults, both native English speakers and non-native.

LVL program managers and other staff members: Improving Performance, Reporting Results: The Guide to Using the EFF Read with Understanding Assessment Prototype is a document that serves as a guide to the EFF Assessment Prototype, a standardized, alternative assessment system designed for use in adult education. The prototype contains material of interest to multiple audiences: a model that assessment developers can use to produce assessments for all the EFF standards; guidelines useful to states, programs, and classrooms as they use the prototype for accountability purposes, including information on training staff to select, administer, score, and report results; and information on developing instructional assessments. A sample assessment and glossary are included.

After reading and studying this material, please click here and write a paragraph or two about what you have learned about using EFF materials with your student(s). Then click "Send" to send it to Literacy Volunteers. A staff member will read your response and contact you. Please feel free to comment on the module and offer suggestions. Completing this module fulfills Literacy Volunteer's requirement for annual tutor re-certification. Thanks for participating.