A study of the kinds of educational services provided to limited English speaking students, how schools provide these services, factors shaping and guiding the programs, and instructional practices fostering the development of school-related language of bilingual students is summarized. The report is divided into two parts: (1) a descriptive study of the services offered to three bilingual groups (Asian, Spanish-speaking, and Navajo) in three regions of the country, and (2) a study of the language characteristics, educational histories, and educational achievement of a selected group of 150 native Cantonese-speaking elementary school students at the Asian site. The overall study's major conclusions are that: (1) English instruction is critical for the development of reading and writing skills in English, but those students coming to school with a greater command of natural language in English maintain an advantage in the long-term development of those skills; (2) To the extent that native-language instruction is effective in developing native language literacy skills, transfer of the underlying academic proficiency occurs with mastery of the second language; and (3) English oral grammar skill is advanced through exposure to both natural and formal language in English, but oral discourse skill, a formal language factor, will most likely be developed through formal rather than natural language exposure. (MSE)