In September 1998, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) established a 1-year task force to review the NCES's role concerning lifelong learning. The eight-member task force established a working definition of lifelong learning ("a process or system through which individuals are able and willing to learn at all stages of life, from preschool through old age") and conducted the following activities: (1) summarized and prioritized policy issues concerning lifelong learning; (2) synthesized exiting data to address monitoring and policy needs; (3) identified and prioritized gaps in existing data; and (4) developed recommendations on data collection strategies. The recommendations focused on the following lifelong learning issue areas: the adult population; learning attitudes and skills of adults; labor market demand for adult learning; participation levels and patterns; goals, incentives, and disincentives; investments in adult learning; adult learning providers; instructional delivery and new technologies; informal learning; services and accommodations for adults; outcomes and effectiveness; and the government's role in adult learning. The task force concluded that adult learning is an important area of education that should have a coherent data collection and reporting system within NCES and that NCES should take the following steps to develop such a system: (1) develop a compendium report summarizing existing information on lifelong learning; and (2) modify existing survey instruments that collect relevant information. (MN)