A research project conducted during the 1976-77 academic year in the Baltimore City Public Schools is investigating the effect providing staff development to teachers on how to teach with learning hierarchies will have on students' achievement scores and rate of learning. Twenty teachers participating in the study are taking a year-long course on learning hierarchies; half of them are also receiving inservice instruction on teaching with learning hierarchies. The effects on rate of learning and achievement scores are being measured with proficiency tests administered to the students of the teachers in both treatment groups. Early results indicate that the combination of the course plus inservice instruction is more effective than the course alone. (MLF)