A study sought to describe the nature of teacher and student behaviors related to textbook reading assignments at the secondary school level, and to explore the relationship between the amount of time secondary school teachers devoted to specific assignment-related behaviors and students' subsequent performance on the assignments. The sample included 10 seventh, eighth, and ninth grade social studies teachers who were observed seven or eight times within a 8-week period. The results indicated that the teachers allocated 46% of the total observed time to the following assignment-making behavior: presenting (22%), monitoring (20%), and oral feedback (4%). This represented more than twice the amount of time teachers spent in lecturing/discussing and small group conferences, combined. Textbook assignments that required students to read and write answers to questions appeared to "drive" the lesson. The amount of time teachers spent presenting textbook-related reading assignments correlated positively and significantly with students' performance on the assignments. The amount of time a teacher spent presenting an assignment did not relate to students' attitudes. Finally, neither the time teachers spent in monitoring nor the time spent in giving feedback on assignments related significantly to student performance or attitude. (HTH)