BY IDENTIFYING AND STUDYING SECONDARY ENGLISH PROGRAMS WHICH WERE REPORTED TO BE OUTSTANDING, THE INVESTIGATORS SOUGHT TO IDENTIFY CHARACTERISTICS OF SUPERIOR PROGRAMS WHICH MIGHT BE EMULATED IN OTHER SCHOOLS. TO GUIDE STAFF MEMBERS IN PLANNING, 12 HYPOTHESES WERE FORMULATED. THE METHOD USED WAS A SERIES OF CASE STUDIES OF INDIVIDUAL ENGLISH PROGRAMS. STUDENT GROUPS WERE MATCHED, INSTRUMENTS CREATED FOR MEASUREMENT, AND OBSERVERS SELECTED AND PREPARED. THE FINDINGS PERTAINING TO THE 12 HYPOTHESES PROVIDED ONLY A PARTIAL SUMMARY OF THE OVERALL RESULTS. OTHER FINDINGS INDICATED THAT MANY OF THE PROGRAMS EVALUATED WERE FAR WEAKER THAN THEY SHOULD BE. (TC)