This book focuses on results from secondary analyses of the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) and implications of these analyses for policy, practice, and further research on adult literacy. Part I contains an introduction and three additional chapters that provide a substantive summary of the NALS and its purposes: "Introduction: Adult Literacy Research and the National Adult Literacy Survey" (M Cecil Smith, Stephen Reder); "Literacy in America: A Brief Overview of the NALS" (Irwin S. Kirsch); "Adult Education and Literacy Public Policy: What It Is and How It Is Shaped" (Alice Johnson, Andrew Hartman); and "Dimensionality and Construct Validity of the NALS Assessment" (Stephen Reder). Part II consists of seven chapters describing secondary analyses of the NALS database that were designed to address different questions: "Work, School, and Literacy" (Jeremy D. Finn, Susan B. Gerber); "Adults' Reading Practices and Their Associations with Literacy Proficiencies" (M Cecil Smith, Janet K. Sheehan); "Literacy Gender Gaps: Evidence from the NALS" (Lynn Friedman, Ernest Davenport); "Literacy Habits and Political Participation" (Richard L. Venezky, David Kaplan); "Community College Literacy: Is the Middle Right?" (Joseph Howard, Wayne S. Obetz); "Literacy Selection and Literacy Development: Structural Equation Models of the Reciprocal Effects of Education and Literacy" (Stephen Reder); and "Literacy Proficiency among Adults with Self-Reported Learning Disabilities" (Susan A. Vogel, Stephen Reder). Part III has two chapters not based on analyses of the NALS data that describe research programs pertaining to dimensions of literacy that are significant to a more comprehensive understanding of literacy: "Family Literacy and Adult Education: Project FLAME [Family Literacy: Aprendiendo, Mejorando, Educando]" (Flora V. Rodriguez-Brown, Maureen A. Meehan) and "Adult Literacy and Health Care" (Joanne R. Nurss). Contains include an index and contributors list. (YLB)