Descriptions of seven diverse bilingual education programs focus on instructional practices that have contributed to the programs' effectiveness as measured by exceptional student achievement, trained observers' perceptions of instructional quality, and the pride of professional staff and parents. The program settings and types include these: (1) a small, rural agricultural community in California with carefully proportioned bilingual education from kindergarten through eighth grade; (2) a year-round community school near the California/Mexico border with two-teacher team-taught bilingual education through sixth grade; (3) a barrio school in a large California city, where the program encompasses the entire school; (4) a northern plains Indian reservation, with a program focusing on the written form of the native Indian language; (5) a suburban school in a northeast city, serving a population speaking 30 languages; (6) a large city school with a history of both successful and unsuccessful bilingual education programs, this one serving kindergarten through high school with separation of language groups; and (7) a California city school having both immersion and bilingual programs. Effective instructional features found in the 58 classrooms studied that are shared by bilingual and monolingual education programs alike and features unique to bilingual instruction are outlined and discussed. (MSE)