Selected video segments of eight instructional sessions were evaluated by 39 speech language pathologists (SLPs). Each involved one of four first grade female students at-risk for academic difficulties being instructed by an African American SLP. In half the videos instruction was focused on story content (whole language) and in the other half on form (sound-symbol correspondence). Raters judged the child's comprehension, and the clinician's clarity and enthusiasm. Videos appeared in a random order. Raters received no advance information about the orientation of instruction or demography. Two of the children were African Americans, one was Caucasian, and one Hispanic. All used American English as their home language. With respect to efficacy of methods, ratings significantly favored the content (whole language) orientation in agreement with an independent count of miscues and scores for story retelling. However, ratings across ethnic boundaries differed with quantitative measures suggesting possible stereotyping. Learning outcomes: As a result of reading this article, participants will be able to (1) discuss factors that may color interactions with at-risk clients, (2) distinguish surface oriented (sound-symbol) approaches to reading instruction from content (meaning) oriented approaches, (3) describe influences of ethnicity on qualitative judgments crucial to clinical interactions.