DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

Newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)

B-precursor or T-precursor ALL

No Burkitt type leukemia (FAB L3; SIg positive; t(8;14) or variant)

No known Ph+ ALL at time of diagnosis

Enrollment on CALGB-C10001 (or its successor trial) for CALGB patients with Philadelphia-positive ALL take priority over enrollment on this protocol

Patients enrolled on this study but are later found to meet the following criteria for Ph+ ALL eligibility criteria for protocol CALGB-C10001 (or its successor trial) are removed from this study and enrolled on CALGB-C10001 (or its successor study):



BCR-ABL fusion transcript determined by FISH or RT-PCR

t(9;22)(q34;q11) or variant determined by cytogenetics

All CALGB patients are required to participate in CALGB-8461

All SWOG patients are required to participate in SWOG-9007

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:



ECOG performance status 0-2

No Down syndrome

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:



No prior therapy for acute leukemia except emergency therapy (i.e., corticosteroids or hydroxyurea) for blast cell crisis, superior vena cava syndrome, or renal failure due to leukemic infiltration of the kidneys

Single-dose intrathecal cytarabine is allowed prior to registration for patient convenience provided systemic chemotherapy begins within 72 hours of intrathecal therapy

Prior steroid therapy allowed