A two-year evaluation of an experience-based curriculum in bilingual education is described in parable style. The proposal for this research design was developed around the question of first-hand field experiences. A review of the first-year project revealed some of its weaknesses and reasons for poor results. For the second year, the public school constraints were taken into consideration, a training session for school personnel was conducted, and a research design was planned by all staff and researchers to be involved in it. The design was fairly complex because of the public school constraint that no child ever be denied the "benefits" of a program. Two consecutive grade levels at each school were assigned randomly to each of three treatment groups called full, partial and delayed treatment. Results indicated that students in the full treatment group performed better than students in the partial treatment group, who in turn performed better than those in the delayed treatment group. Advantages were evident in both Spanish and English communication skills. Appendices cover teacher competencies in a bilingual program; parental involvement strategies; and description, analysis and results of the experience-based curriculum project. (AMH)