The first national study to identify and describe the extent of illiteracy problems and lack of high school completions among adult American Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos was conducted from 1977 to 1980, to provide decision makers with an accurate assessment of overall adult Indian education needs. The United States population was surveyed by using a national sample of adult Indians from selected sample counties. The study included surveys of State Education Agency (SEA) administered programs and Indian Education Act (IEA) projects, and a carefully designed home interview survey, conducted by 201 specially trained Indian field interviewers, which yielded educational, language, demographic, health, employment, and economic information about respondents. One third of the 4,097 adult Indians surveyed were dissatisfied with their education; two thirds felt their education was inappropriate for their needs; 80% wanted more education. Although 57% had a high school diploma, their educational performance levels (on reading, writing, computation and economic dimensions) were far below those of non-Indians; western levels were lower than eastern results. SEA response was poor; SEA and IEA responses differed sharply regarding the relationship of adult education coordinators to Indian communities. Results have implications for adult Indian education and for Indian education as a whole. (SB)