Acts and characteristics of teachers of American Indian students which may influence the dynamics of the self-fulfilling prophecy were examined. Data were collected via questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaires were sent to 60 student teachers and teacher assistants in schools enrolling Indian students. Some of these schools had almost entirely Indian students; others had mixed populations. The 52 respondents made observations about the teachers in the schools in which they taught. The questionnaire included questions about differential treatment of students by levels of performance, ethnicity, and family income; the nature of the socio-emotional climate in student-teacher exchanges; the criteria used by teachers in making initial assessments of students' potential; evaluations of effective and ineffective teachers; and the existence of the self-fulfilling prophecy in the classroom. Twenty interviews were conducted with some of the same student teachers and a new group of student teachers to probe for the factors and processes which affected student-teacher relations in school and illustrated the dynamics of the self-fulfilling prophecy. Findings included: 63% of the student teachers felt that teachers reacted to and treated "good" students differently than "bad" students; "poor" students were more likely to receive control treatment, to get more punishment and less praise for their work, and to be passed over in question and answer sessions; and Indian students were more likely to be perceived as "poor" performers. (NQ)