The purpose of this study was to investigate adult literacy education learners' self-esteem and to examine the relationship between self-esteem and measures of achievement in reading and math. The rationale for the present study stemmed from the lack of research into adult literacy students' self-esteem levels. More than 200 learners enrolled in adult literacy classes were selected for participation. In the absence of self-esteem norms for this population, a group of 44 doctoral students was used for comparison. Important findings of this study are: (a) contrary to the popular belief that adult literacy education learners' self-esteem is low, their self-esteem is virtually the same as a sample from a highly educated population; and (b) the reading and math achievement levels of adult literacy education learners appear to be positively correlated with their self-esteem. (Contains 6 tables and 6 footnotes.)