A panel of experts from a variety of disciplines was convened to advise policymakers about what is known about instructional effectiveness in adult and family literacy situations. The panel concluded that, although little research examining instructional effectiveness in family and adult literacy programs is available, a great deal of "best practices" research has been conducted in K-12 contexts. The panel identified the following categories of strategies that make significant differences in student achievement: (1) reinforcing effort/providing recognition; (2) homework/practice; (3) identifying similarities and differences; (4) summarizing and note taking; (5) nonlinguistic representations of responses that do not involve words; (6) cooperative learning; (7) setting objectives and providing feedback; (8) generating and testing hypotheses; and (9) questions, cues, and advanced organizers. A matrix in which specific learning activities were cross-referenced to strategies 3-9 was also presented. It was recommended that adult and family literacy educators in Ohio and elsewhere use the strategies and matrix to improve their instructional practices. In addition, adult and family literacy educators were advised to consult the World Wide Web site of the Ohio Literacy Resource Center for additional information on using proven instructional strategies in their literacy programs and to share the results of research on instructional strategies with their adult students. (MN)