The development of the secondary language arts program for nonacademic students in the Florence, South Carolina, public schools is examined. The basic concern underlying this program is the psychological needs of individual students, coupled with the teacher's acceptance of the student's social and educational status. The framework of the curriculum is built around the student's achievement level rather than traditional grade requirements; thus, there are seven phases of achievement within which reading grade level ranges from nonreading to grade 10. Students meet in their language arts classes for two-period time blocks daily, moving from one phase to the next at their own rates. The communication skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing are taught at each phase, these skills being organized around a six-element framework intended to establish guidelines and provide sequence and continuity in the curriculum: (1) needs of teenagers, (2) goals to be accomplished, (3) skills to be developed, (4) methods of instruction, (5) materials to be used, and (6) assessment and evaluation. Teachers involved in the program are preparing an operational guide to define more clearly the objectives of the program and to coordinate the program of studies in the seven phases. Examples of the curriculum content of Phase 1 are included. (VJ)