ABSTRACT
The year 2002 marked 35 years since President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Adult Education Act early in fiscal year 1967, thereby creating the Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) of the United States. This chapter first discusses activities of the US Department of Education (DOE), Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE), Division of Adult Education and Literacy (DAEL), which has federal oversight of the state grants that fund the AELS. It then discusses additional topics of special interest in 2002, including adult reading research and instruction; assessment of adult learning; issues of race, ethnicity, and racism in adult education; and the second year of the National Literacy Summit 2000 Action Agenda. The interest in adult reading instruction, supported by research in the AEFLA, has led to additional research, dissemination of new research, and the reporting of new research in scientific journals.
