This book--based on Cooperative Research Project No. 1994 (see ED 010 163)--reports the results of a 5-year study which examined outstanding English programs in 158 primarily metropolitan high schools in 45 states, and identified aspects of these programs which might be emulated or improved. Questionnaires were analyzed on data processing machines, interviews were subjected to content analysis, and specialists in English observed classroom procedures. Shared characteristics of these schools were found to be (1) effective and intelligent administrators, (2) well-prepared English teachers who are professionally interested in both the subject and the students, (3) adequate instructional materials, (4) reasonable teaching conditions, (5) locally-prepared curriculum guides, (6) a disturbing lack of sequence and structure in programs, especially composition and language, (7) an emphasis on literature, providing for close reading of individual texts supported by supplementary individual reading, (8) inadequate attention to reading, speech, and examinations, and (9) lack of radical educational experimentation. Recommendations for improved English instruction are based on these findings. (This document previously announced as ED 023 667.) (JS)