The Department of Education's Academic Excellence Program, which focused on implementation and dissemination of information on effective bilingual education programs, is reported and evaluated. The project's goal was to understand the processes and activities that support successful marketing, adoption, implementation, and sustainment of practices that result in effective education for limited-English-proficient (LEP) elementary and secondary students. An introductory chapter gives an overview of federal involvement in bilingual education in general and the Academic Excellence Program in particular, and describes the study and report. The second chapter describes the nine original programs and the nomination and review processes. The programs have diverse designs, characteristics, and objectives, including target populations (Alaskan and Native American, LEP, limited-Spanish-proficient, gifted/talented, parents, non- English-proficient, English-fluent), grade levels, goals (English language arts, computer-assisted instruction, computer literacy, achieving creative and academic potential, parent participation, native language development, literacy, self-esteem), subject areas, methodologies, and geographic locations. The third chapter details the selection of sites and process of implementation. Chapter 4 discusses the importance of the Academic Excellence Program and dissemination of program information. A concluding chapter assesses the design of the overall program as a federal strategy for educational improvement. Contains 27 references. (MSE)