The Equipped for the Future (EFF) initiative asked adult learners to describe the knowledge and skills needed to fulfill their roles as parents, citizens, and workers and identified these four purposes: to provide access to information; to give voice to their ideas and opinions, to take action to solve problems, and to provide a bridge to the future by enabling them to continue to learn. These needs were used to develop a model--called the EFF Quality Model--which is the subject of this publication. The model identifies critical elements in the process of system reform, including the following: (1) the tools EFF has created to facilitate system reform; (2) the research EFF has drawn upon to create those tools; (3) the program practices expected to be implemented as a result of the use of those tools; and (4) the short- and longer-term outcomes that represent the real goals of system reform. Program practices featured in the model include a purposeful and transparent approach to education, a contextualized approach to curriculum and instruction, a constructivist approach to teaching and learning, an approach to assessment based on cognitive science research on adult learning and the development of expertise, and a systematic approach to accountability and program improvement based on meeting student and national goals. (Contains 23 references.) (KC)