The purpose of the study was to explore the formation of teachers' expectations of students' academic performance. First-grade teachers were interviewed or asked to respond to questionnaires concerning their pupils, and ranked their students on expected academic performance at three periods in the school year. Teachers rankings of expected performance were highly stable over time. Metropolitan Readiness Test scores were significantly correlated with prior teacher rankings of expected performance. Many student behaviors and characteristics were identified as correlating significantly with teachers' rankings of expected academic performance. [Not available in hard copy due to marginal legibility of original document.] (Author)