THE OREGON CURRICULUM STUDY CENTER, WITH THE COOPERATION OF STAFF MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON AND TEACHERS FORM SEVEN SCHOOL SYSTEMS IN OREGON AND WASHINGTON, HAS WRITTEN AND TESTED AN EXPERIMENTAL CURRICULUM IN ENGLISH FOR GRADES 7-12 FOR APPROXIMATELY THE UPPER 70 PERCENT OF STUDENTS. THE CURRICULUM CONSISTS OF EXPERIMENTAL TEXTBOOKS IN LANGUAGE (GENERAL LINGUISTIC MATERIAL AND TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMAR), LITERATURE, AND RHETORIC (ORAL AND WRITTEN COMPOSITION). A PRINCIPAL OBJECTIVE OF THE CENTER WAS TO DEVELOP A CURRICULUM CHARACTERIZED BY INTELLECTUAL INTEGRITY OF CONTENT, AND BY AN ORDERED SEQUENCE BASED ON CONCEPTS RELEVANT TO THE SUBJECT MATTER BEING PRESENTED. THE CURRICULUM IN TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMAR OFFERED NO DIFFICULTIES IN THIS RESPECT, SINCE AS A SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINE IT IS RIGOROUSLY LOGICAL AND SEQUENTIAL. THE LITERATURE CURRICULUM IS ORGANIZED AROUND THE TERMS--SUBJECT, FORM, AND POINT OF VIEW--WHICH, IN ACCORDANCE WITH BRUNER'S THEORY OF THE SPIRAL, ARE PRESENTED THROUGH SIMPLE APPLICATIONS IN THE EARLY YEARS AND PROGRESSIVELY MORE COMPLEX ONES IN THE LATER YEARS. THE RHETORIC CURRICULUM IS SIMILARLY ORDERED AROUND THE CONCEPTS OF SUBSTANCE, STRUCTURE, AND STYLE. THE CENTER DEVELOPED A PATTERN OF RETRAINING OF TEACHERS SO AS TO EQUIP THEM TO TEACH NEW SUBJECT MATTER AND EMPLOY NEW TEACHING METHODS. IT ALSO PRODUCED A BATTERY OF TESTS TO DETERMINE STUDENT PERFORMANCE IN THE NEW CURRICULUM. SEE ALSO ED 010 129 THROUGH ED 010 160, ED 010 803 THROUGH ED 010 832, TE 000 195 THROUGH TE 000 220, AND TE 000 227 THROUGH TE 000 249. (AUTHOR)