Behaviors important to success of students enrolled in programs for the educable mentally retarded were investigated with 30 Ss. Hypotheses stated that those behaviors described by the Fourteen Persistent Life Problems (PLPs) and deemed important to academic success of the EMR would correlate significantly with standardized measures of reading achievement and learning potential. The methodology consisted of having six teachers rate each student in terms of degree of deficit for each of the areas defined by the 14 PLPs. A structured, focused interview technique was employed whereby the teacher of each child provided a numerical response on a scale of one to five based upon the developmental expectations for age levels for that child. To establish the importance of student behaviors, six teachers ranked the 14 PLPs in terms of their relative importance to the curriculum as they wre presenting it. The combined rakings were compared with the impressions of groups of six administrators and six teachers of students in the regular programs. Results indicated that "communication of ideas verbally and in writing," as well as "communication of ideas through reading," were preceived as being important by each of the three groups. Case study techniques were employed to investigate predictive aspects of the study. Mainstreamed children who had met with success in the special education program were studied in terms of their degree of success in the regular program. Both hypotheses were rejected. (Author/SB)