This conference report deals with the roles and objectives of adult basic education in manpower development; educational personnel and technology; educational innovation; and special problems in teaching disadvantaged adults. Office of Education activities involving regional university resource specialists are described, as is the learning center approach to providing individualized adult instruction. Special experimental and demonstration projects include the following; interagency cooperation through the Appalachian Adult Basic Education Demonstration Center (Morehead State University, Kentucky); the Adult Armchair Program in ghetto homes in Philadelphia; adult migrant education in Florida; use of mass media with Spanish speaking adults in Albuquerque; a program in New York City for Head Start parents; preparing disadvantaged youth in Washington, D.C. for permanent Civil Service jobs; the Center for Adult Basic Education Learning (CABEL) in Virginia; an orientation program in job terminology (Columbus, Ohio); and computed assisted instruction curriculum development at North Carolina State University. Projects and adult basic education teacher training institutions are listed. (ly)