This issue reflects some of the events that shaped education in 2007: a critical year as it marked the midway point to achieving the Education For All targets set for 2015. There are signs of hope, with renewed energy in the struggle for education rights, but there remain major challenges. The first few articles in this issue look at developments in adult literacy, starting with how momentum is gathering around the international adult literacy benchmarks developed by the Global Campaign for Education in 2005. This is followed by a summary of plans to strengthen the evaluation of Reflect around the world and a look at the use of the Reflect approach in Vietnam.