The manual provides information to assist secondary school level program and curriculum designers in the creation and administration of second language programs. It is not a how-to manual, but includes descriptive data about program types in existence and criteria for evaluating language proficiency. It contains: a list of terms used and their definitions; American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) guidelines for assessing second language proficiency at four benchmark levels; a second language scoring guide for communication of messages, interviews, narration, and skit performance; and descriptions of sample oral proficiency tasks at each of those levels. Appended materials include a list of commonly-asked questions about secondary school language instruction, a chart detailing enrollments in 14 languages in each elementary grade (kindergarten through sixth) and the percentage of total students they represent; additional ACTFL proficiency guidelines; notes on the secondary school foreign language programs of other states; national foreign language standards for each of five goals; a summary of higher education second language requirements for 1997-98 and 1999-2000; and a list of contributors. (MSE)