Summarizing three different perspectives on lifelong learning in America, these three conference papers each reflect the orientation of a particular group of individuals involved in a particular project or study. Charles I. Bunting reflects the concerns of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare as presented in its first report on lifelong learning to Congress. He notes that the Lifelong Learning Act ("Mondale Bill") part of the Education Amendments of 1976 authorized support of three general activities: research and analysis, demonstration and dissemination, and state-level efforts. He summarizes what the legislation sought to convey about lifelong learning and how the project interpreted its charge and established an agenda and recommendations for its report. Rexford Moon's paper describes the context and intent of a new project of the College Entrance Examination Board that will offer new services to adult learners and institutions. Included is review of a study on characteristics of adults in career transition and an overview, Future Directions for a Learning Society, which focuses on educational and career planning information, assessment of learning, fostering of public awareness, new arrangements for credentialing and certification, and institutional program planning and development. The third paper, by Richard E. Peterson, is based on experience in the Educational Testing Service project sponsored by the Exxon Foundation. Nine "important next steps" are suggested to move lifelong learning from rhetoric toward reality. (JT)