Efforts to develop a collection of reading test items suitable for measuring adult literacy are described. The project, part of Project I of the Targeted Research and Development Program in Reading, sought to identify characteristics of literacy levels and to define tasks which might be used in a criterion-referenced test to assess possession of those characteristics. It was felt that such tasks should realistically reflect adults' everyday reading behavior and should be associated with benefits which adults might realize from being able to perform the tasks. It was also decided that tasks should be practical rather than academic and that numbers of tasks of a given point be based on frequency and duration of time spent in real-life activities upon which the tasks are based. In addition, self-reported nonreaders' statements of their abilities ought to be considered. It is planned that once items are developed based on such criteria, a panel of test developers will construct psychometrically sound instruments from the large bank of items developed by project participants. (MS)