The study was undertaken to ascertain the extent to which practices relating to interscholastic athletic programs in the selected schools correlated with recommendations by authorities in the field. An extensive collection of recommendations by authoritative groups and individuals was made and a inquiry form constructed from the consensus of the recommendations. The inquiry form was then mailed out to seventy-four schools meeting the North Carolina State Department of Public Instruction definition of "Junior High School." With the exception of six schools in their first year of operation, this mailing included every school in the state included in the definition. Sixty-four schools, or eighty-six percent, responded to the inquiry form. A compilation of returns seem to indicate that programs of interscholastic athletics generally followed recommendations with some notable exceptions