Foreword

The objective of this report is to document key aspects of the development of theInternational Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALL) - it's theoretical roots, thedomains selected for possible assessment, the approaches taken to assessment in eachdomain and the criteria that were employed to decide which domains were to be carriedin the final design. As conceived, the ALL survey was meant to build on the success ofthe International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) assessments by extending the range ofskills assessed and by improving the quality of the assessment methods employed. Thisreport documents several successes including:

• the development of a new framework and associated robust measures forproblem solving
• the development of a powerful numeracy framework and associatedrobust measures
• the specification of frameworks for practical cognition, teamwork andinformation and communication technology literacy

The report also provides insight into those domains where development failed toyield approaches to assessment of sufficient quality, insight that reminds us that scientificadvance in this domain hard won.

Nevertheless, the ALL study breaks new ground, offering a wealth of data onadult skills and their covariates. Readers are encouraged to celebrate our successes, tolearn from our mistakes and to reflect on the central importance of what has beenmeasured to the lives of our citizens.