Factors contributing to program success or failure were evaluated at 16 English colleges. Questionnaires were distributed to 231 teachers with 59 of those questioned further during an interview. Respondents emphasized the importance of good teaching, committed and knowledgeable teachers, and effective and appropriate processes for recruitment, orientation, assessment, tutoring, and student support. They agreed on factors, typically outside teacher control, that can have a negative impact on student achievement, such as college resources, changes to programs of study, and course scheduling. Follow-up interviews revealed that teachers in programs with high student retention and achievement rates based their teaching on interaction and partnership with students and believed that effective teachers adapt and develop their teaching to meet student needs. Equally significant was the finding that teachers in successful programs worked collaboratively with their peers as well as with college administration to achieve their goals. Teachers in programs with low student success rates blamed their supervisors, students, or both. They suggested that the students, not the teaching methodology, needed to change. Suggestions for improving unsuccessful programs included: (1) engaging teacher's value systems and their concept of teaching role; (2) working with teachers collaboratively; and, (3) reexamining the role of college administration as it affects teachers. Appended are a list of colleges that participated; a description of research methods; letter to survey respondents; questionnaire; guidance notes for college coordinators; and a data sheet for each course/program. (Contains 14 tables and 17 references.) (AJ)