This study examines and describes the changes in four teachers' beliefs and practices in literacy and literacy assessment over the course of a yearlong graduate level clinical experience. Four teachers who worked in the university literacy clinic as part of their graduate course work participated in this study. Two of the four teachers teach elementary-aged pupils in a public school, another serves as a reading resource educator at a public elementary school, and the fourth teaches high school-aged students at an alternative school associated with a public school. Findings indicate that teacher beliefs and their classroom instruction are often inconsistent due to a variety of variables such as the pressure to conform to a particular school philosophy and/or government mandates. In spite of these pressures the findings confirm that these teachers serve as the key evaluator of their students' literacy development.