In 1985-1986 the Pima County Adult Education program conducted an adult basic education (ABE) curriculum project that was intended to devise materials for use in determining and remediating content gaps in the district's adult basic education and high school equivalency programs. The needs assessment instrument, which was designed to discover information gaps rather than to assess reading level, turned out to be 20 pages long and included questions ranging from reading comprehension to writing to grammar to science, social studies, arithmetic, and common abbreviations. Since the intent of the student survey was to assess student knowledge rather than reading level, the survey's reading level was kept intentionally low. In the next phase of the project, materials appropriate to the different skill and content levels identified (including tests, workbooks, and teacher-developing learning activities) were collected, assessed, and compiled. Next, a discrete class was established in each learning center to provide instruction to the target population identified through the survey instrument. Although the progress of ABE students is generally slower and harder to measure, it appears that the special classes offer something to these students that regular general educational development (GED) classes do not. A manual was developed for dissemination throughout Arizona's ABE programs and representatives from various programs within the state were given the opportunity to observe the classes. (An ABE curriculum checklist, ABE curriculum bibliography, and the 20-page student knowledge assessment are included with the project report.) (MN)