To compare perceptions of inservice and preservice teachers toward the relative importance of competencies identified on the Mississippi Teacher Assessment Instrument (MTAI), a questionnaire listing the 14 generic competencies in the MTAI was distributed to 300 preservice and inservice teachers who were instructed to rank order the competencies based on the level of importance for classroom practice. Preservice teachers were junior and senior education majors from college teacher education programs. Inservice teachers were experienced teachers from three school districts. In all, 257 questionnaires were returned from 98 preservice and 159 inservice teachers. Both groups ranked the following five competencies as most important: (1) plans instruction to achieve selected objectives; (2) organizes instruction to take into account individual differences among learners; (3) communicates with learners; (4) demonstrates enthusiasm for teaching, learning and the subject being taught; and (5) helps learners develop positive self-concepts. Table 1 provides data on the demographic composition of the samples. Tables 2 through 12 show the mean rank and rank order of importance of the competencies for inservice and preservice teachers by sex, race, age, certification level, and type of degree. (SLD)