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