A GROUP OF HIGH-POTENTIAL (UPPER QUARTILE ON STANDARDIZED TESTS), LOW-ACHIEVING (2.0 OR BELOW GRADE POINT AVERAGE) STUDENTS IN FOUR DETROIT PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS WERE STUDIED FOR FIVE SEMESTERS. THE SAMPLE OF 585 STUDENTS WAS DIVIDED INTO THREE GROUPS. TWO GROUPS WERE CONSIDERED THE CONTROL. IN THE QUASI-CONTROL GROUP, THE TEACHERS WERE GIVEN THE NAMES OF THE UNDERACHIEVERS. IN THE TRUE CONTROL GROUPS, THE TEACHERS DID NOT KNOW THE UNDERACHIEVERS. IN THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS, TEACHERS WERE PROVIDED WITH BACKGROUND INFORMATION OBTAINED BY PUPIL QUESTIONNAIRES. THE HYPOTHESIS WAS THAT TEACHER AWARENESS OF SUCH STUDENTS WOULD PRODUCE IMPROVED ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND IMPROVED SELF-FEELING. BASED ON THE STATISTICAL COMPARISONS OF THE SAMPLE WITH THE TWO CONTROL GROUPS, THE RESEARCHERS CONCLUDED THAT (1) BACKGROUND INFORMATION MAY NOT ELIMINATE A NEGATIVE REACTION OF THE TEACHER TO THE UNDERACHIEVER, (2) SUCH STUDENTS MAY BETTER BE CALLED NONPERFORMERS, AND (3) SUCH STUDENTS ARE NOT LIKELY TO CHANGE IN THE TRADITIONAL CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT. IMPLICATIONS ARE THAT COUNSELING OF UNDERACHIEVING STUDENTS IS LIMITED IN USEFULNESS AND SUCH STUDENTS WOULD BE BETTER SERVED IN A NONDIRECTIVE CLASSROOM. (NS)