Despite increased interest in and acceptance of the concept and mandate of providing adaptive instruction to ensure schooling success for each student, a sizable gap exists between identification of specific educational practices and application of such practices in schools. The work described in this paper is aimed at examining the feasibility and practicability of widespread implementation of an adaptive instruction approach. Discussion focuses on four areas: (1) the conceptual and practical implications of the adaptive instruction approach and the effective allocation and use of school time; (2) the rationale and design of an adaptive instruction program that includes features thought to be particularly effective in enhancing student learning; (3) the results of a descriptive study of the program's impact on classroom processes, student achievement, and the allocation and use of school time; and (4) the comparability of the study's findings with recent literature on effective classroom instruction in general and investigations of the use of school time and student learning in particular. The descriptive study was conducted in 156 kindergarten through third-grade classrooms where the Adaptive Learning Environments Model was implemented as the core educational program. It is concluded that it is unnecessary to trade off achievement in basic skills for student growth in areas such as independence, self-responsibility, and social cooperation. (Author/RH)