Assessment of higher order literacy skills encounters three initial problems aside from assessment methods: (1) definition of literacy; (2) range of skills to assess; and (3) whether or not higher order literacy can be assessed independently of a particular content area. Regardless of definitions, the general performance areas to be covered must be decided. Issues to be resolved are the question of how many lower-level literacy skills to include in a higher-level assessment and the degree to which a pure literacy assessment can be separated from any particular content. The cognitive base for assessment of adult literacy is thin, and that dealing with higher-level skills is almost non-existent. In the future, text-based tasks might be developed from analyses of basic reading comprehension processes. These tasks might be aligned with the Delphi classification of core critical thinking skills. To be compatible with the basic directions of critical thinking and communications research, it is suggested that literacy assessment be built around a definition of human expertise, confined primarily to reading and writing, and integrated with content-area assessments, at least for areas where text-based information must be integrated with information previously acquired. Three figures illustrate the discussion, and a 52-item list of references is included. Reviews by R. Calfee, M. A. Miller, and M. Scriven of this position paper are provided. (SLD)