This paper examines the extent to which legitimacy affects program continuation, and focuses on the process by which programs attempt to maintain legitimate status through conformity with the larger environment. Legitimacy is defined as cultural support from a program's larger environment, such as the school district or community. An innovative mathematics-science curriculum, Finding Out/Descubrimiento, is studied to test a three-part hypothesis: the formal continuation, quality, and duration of an instructional innovation will be positively associated with its degree of perceived acceptance by administrators. Observation and questionnaires are the methods used in this sample of 26 predominantly urban schools and 51 teachers. Three measures of the independent variable, legitimacy, are combined to create an index, which is correlated with the three dependent variables: formal continuation, quality, and extent. Regression analysis controls for three other variables: grade level, resources, and first-year implementation. The findings demonstrate support for the hypothesis. A positive statistically significant relationship exists between legitimacy and: (1) formal continuation; (2) four indicators for quality of continuation; and (3) two indicators for the extent of continuation. The appendix includes statistical tables to support the conclusions. (6 references) (LMI)