This report of the activities of the National Advisory Council on Extension and Continuing Education during 1976 focuses on current information about (1) the nature and extent of the need for federal continuing education programs; (2) the appropriateness of the existing responses in light of the needs identified; and (3) the Council's recommendations for policies, funding strategies, and administrative structures to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal role in postsecondary continuing education. The Council's major findings are presented and include the following: (1) There is a need to define a set of priorities for the federal role in continuing education, (2) successful community problem-solving activities and responsiveness to the needs of adult learners exist when program planning and implementation decisions are made at the local level, and (3) eighty projects from thirty-five states demonstrate effectiveness in helping to reduce the severity of the problems they were funded to address. (In this report, the first two chapters cover the national goal for continuing education and the Council's mandate and major concern (chapter 1), and a discussion of the reauthorization of the Higher Education of 1965 (chapter 2). Major content is presented in chapter 3, which is a detailed discussion of the Council's activities and recommendations, including eight supplementary tables showing summary data by state, distribution of projects, state plan priorities, and federal programs by purpose and agency). (EM)