This book, which is intended primarily for specialists in the field of adult education (AE) who wish to improve their performance, presents a systematic plan for designing, establishing, and evaluating successful programs for adult learners. The following topics are among those discussed in the book's six chapters: credos and systems (growth of systematic thought in AE; credos; systems based on the thoughts of Dewey, Tyler, and Lewin; systems based on community development; systems analysis systems; andragogy; appropriate/inappropriate systems); a two-part fundamental system and its use; five adult learning situations and use of the model system in each (learning among destitute persons, rural education, prevocational academic instruction in the Army, community improvement programs, education for health); categories of educational situations (independent study; tutorial teaching; learning group; teacher-directed group instruction; collaborative group instruction; institutions, associations, and organizations; creating an educational institution; designing a new institutional format; designing new activities in established formats; collaborative institutional planning; mass education); development of program design (identifying possible educational activity, identifying/refining objectives, developing format, putting programs into life patterns, putting plans into effect, measuring/appraising results, repeating the educational cycle); and mastering a personal system of practice. Contains 148 references and a glossary. (MN)