Using data from the national research project "A Study of Schooling," researchers sought to describe teachers' educational beliefs and to relate those beliefs to the teachers' classroom teaching practices. From 13 elementary schools in the national survey, 182 teachers were selected, based on their scores on two dimensions of belief: teacher discipline and control, and student participation. The two dimensions yielded four types of teachers, including (1) "autocrats," with high discipline and low participation scores; (2) "strategists," with high discipline and participation scores; (3) "laissez-faire," with low discipline and participation scores; and (4) "democrats," with low discipline but high participation scores. Questionnaires, interviews, and observations of 80 classrooms where the sampled teachers taught were used to assess teaching practices. The variables examined included teachers'"preactive" behaviors (goals, intentions, and decisions) and "interactive" behaviors (instructional methods, grouping arrangements, time use, leadership, and expressive behavior). Discriminant analysis and chi-square analysis indicated that the four teacher types had different goals and methods. Among the results were that autocrats and strategists tended to emphasize basic skills and intellectual development, while democrats emphasized personal development, and that teacher beliefs on discipline were associated mostly with preactive behavior and beliefs on participation mostly with interactive behavior. (Author/RW)