The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to ascertain the perceptions of second- through fourth-grade teachers' knowledge of inference, strategies used by teachers for developing inference, and the instructional tools that teachers use to teach their students to make inferences. The participants in this study were eight second-through fourth-grade classroom teachers from two New York City public schools. This study was guided by four research questions and three sub-questions regarding teachers' knowledge of comprehension, inference, inference teaching strategies, and instructional tool use. Three data collection methods were used in this study. In-depth interviews were used to discover teachers' perceptions of their knowledge of inference and the strategies and tools they use during reading instruction. A survey was used to identify teachers' perceptions of their level of knowledge of inference, and focus groups were used to add additional insight about best practices and instructional tools for teaching inferencing to students. Interview data were analyzed using Giorgi's (1997) descriptive phenomenological analysis. Focus group data were analyzed using Krueger's (1988, 1998) framework. Findings of the study indicated that teachers had a general understanding of comprehension but differed in their knowledge of strategies to develop comprehension. Additionally, incongruence was found between teachers' actual and perceived knowledge of inference. Findings also indicated some teachers had the perception that the teaching of inference is dependent on students' acquisition of basic code related skills. Findings also indicated that teachers' practical knowledge gained through classroom experience has the most influence on the strategies and instructional tools they use to teach inference. The implications of this study are that teachers would benefit greatly from professional development that provides a more in-depth understanding about higher level, deep processing comprehension strategies and training that deepens teachers' knowledge about inference, the relationship between comprehension and inference, and an understanding of research-based strategies and instructional tools to develop students' inferential comprehension. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]