This report is one of five submitted as products of a "Study Designed to Assist Planning of Research on Significant Instructional Features in Bilingual Education Programs." The reports are intended to assist the National Institute of Education (NIE) in its plans for a major new research study in bilingual education. The present report is based on a review of studies of educational instructional features in both monolingual and bilingual contexts, and on conversations with a large number of researchers and critics. The intent of the report is to summarize the state of the art of bilingual educational features research as a base for designs to be developed by NIE. The design according to which sample programs were chosen for the study is set forth. Issues in the analytic study of population groups targeted for bilingual education are discussed. A chapter is devoted to measurement issues. The volume concludes with a discussion of the management, organization, and phasing of the study. A bibliography is appended. (Author/JB)