Qualitative or observational analysis was used in an all-Navajo Bureau of Indian Affairs day school of approximately 210 students, grades kindergarten through eighth, to generate a description of the attitudes and perceptions surrounding tests and the process of learning about testing among Navajo children. Primary data gathering occurred at the second, third, and fourth grade levels; these data included teachers' explanations of tests and the need and purpose of testing, students' perceptions and feelings concerning testing, extensive classroom observations, and individual interviews conducted with a sample of students and teachers. Data indicated that teachers and students at the lower grade levels functioned in a complimentary way although they had different models for the testing event. By presenting the proper physical behavior during testing, the students seemed to satisfy many of the requirements of the teachers' model, although the understanding of the reasons behind testing were clearly different in both groups. When teachers had to change their model in the later grades, shifting the emphasis from form to content, and when, at that time, the reality of failing presented itself more strongly in the students' school life, the students' model became dysfuntional. (Author/CM)