Examining efforts to provide both remedial and special education programs through Chapter 1 of the Educational Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1980 (ECIA), a study considered two broad areas which influence the quality of remedial instruction offered in schools: (1) aspects of district-level organizational policies and how they influence opportunities for literacy instruction; and (2) the nature of the literacy instruction that Chapter 1 and mainstreamed mildly handicapped students experience across the school day. The whole school day experiences of 52 second and fourth grade children (26 at each grade level) from four school districts were analyzed. The school districts varied in size and community type, and students were drawn from an array of regular education classes and were provided instructional support services by 20 different specialist teachers (10 Chapter 1 and 10 special education teachers). In order to clarify district and school policies and instructional experiences, interviews were conducted with district and school building administrators, as well as specialist and classroom teachers. Student observational records focused on field notes, curricula materials in use and photocopies of completed student work, and instructional experiences were studied using the Student Observation Instrument (SOI). Findings were analyzed according to district and grade level, and showed that in general, the observed instructional experiences did not fulfill the expectation that remedial and mildly handicapped students had access to larger amounts of superior instruction. Many students experienced undifferentiated instruction in both classroom and resource room and a fragmentation of curricular experiences. (Forty-five references are appended.) (MM)