Intended for use by policymakers, program designers, researchers, and others concerned about education and employment outcomes, this collection of papers explores policy-relevant implications of occupational adaptability for the worlds of school and work. The first paper provides an overview of the concepts of change, adaptation, and the American way of work. Next, the adaptive process, adaptive resistance variations in adaptive patterns, adaptive social character and the marketing mentality, depression and other potential consequences of adaptation, and education and adaptation are examined in a paper entitled "Work and the Consequences of Adaptation: a Critique to Inform Policy." The third paper, "Proteus and the Petrified Forest: Improving Adaptive Competencies in Adults," discusses a model of occupational adaptation and its educational policy implications. Such issues as trends affecting U.S. workplaces, forthcoming corporate responses and adaptations, models for the eighties, and on-the-job learning and training are covered in the final paper. A summary and discussion follows. (MN)