BASED IN PART ON A SKINNERIAN LEARNING ORIENTATION, 4 DIMENSIONS OF THE TEACHER'S BEHAVIOR ARE HYPOTHESIZED AS IMPORTANT IN MEDIATING CLASSROOM LEARNING--(1) INFORMATION GIVING (IG), (2) RESPONSE ELICITATION (RE), (3) FEEDBACK (F), AND (4) TEACHER CONTROL (TC). FROM 34 TO 42 5-MINUTE OBSERVATIONS WERE OBTAINED FOR EACH OF THE 4 TEACHERS IN A COGNITIVE ENRICHMENT PROGRAM FOR UNDERPRIVILEGED PRESCHOOL CHILDREN. RECORDINGS WERE MADE FOR EACH "SMALLEST DISCERNIBLE SEGMENT OF A TEACHER'S VERBAL OR NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR WHICH COULD BE CLASSIFIED INTO A PARTICULAR CATEGORY." INTERRATER RELIABILITY EXCEEDED .90 FOR EACH OF THE 4 CATEGORIES. THE DISTRIBUTION OF BEHAVIORS AMONG THE 4 CATEGORIES VARIED SIGNIFICANTLY AMONG THE TEACHERS, WITH TOTAL PERCENTAGES AS FOLLOWS--IG-46 PERCENT, RE-33 PERCENT, F-14 PERCENT, TC-7 PERCENT. INTERCORRELATIONS AMONG THE OBSERVATIONAL CATEGORIES SHOWED, IN PART, THAT THE CATEGORIES WERE MUTUALLY RESTRICTING. THUS A TENDENCY TO GIVE INFORMATION REDUCES THE LIKELIHOOD OF ENCOURAGING PUPIL RESPONSES OR PROVIDING FEEDBACK. SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TEACHERS WERE FOUND FOR THE RATIO OF FEEDBACK TO RESPONSE ELICITATION, ASSUMED TO CORRELATE POSITIVELY WITH EFFECTIVE TEACHING. THE LIMITED AVAILABLE EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT THE OBSERVATION PROCEDURE DOES DIFFERENTIATE AMONG TEACHER STYLES, BUT THE SCALE STILL NEEDS TO BE VALIDATED AGAINST EXTERNAL CRITERIA. (LC)