This trial will enroll patients 50 years and older with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Patients above age 50 years are not eligible for intensive chemotherapy regimens and have been shown to have worse outcomes than adolescents and young adults treated with the same chemotherapy. For instance, the 5-year survival for patients aged 55-65 years treated on an international ALL trial was 21% compared to 38% for younger patients. Similarly, the 5-year survival for patients treated at MD Anderson Cancer Center with the hyper-CVAD regimen was 30% for patients aged 40-59 years compared to 51% for those less then age 40 years.