This study, begun in October 1987, was conducted to explore the effect of particular contexts of schooling on educational outcomes and to provide a comprehensive look at what and how context conditions affect teaching and learning. The study design integrates 3 years of field research in 16 public and private high schools in 2 states and analyses of national survey data from the High School and Beyond and the National Education Longitudinal Study 1988 programs. The research focuses on the bottom-up teacher's-eye perspective within embedded contexts rather than the outside-in view of researchers and policymakers usual in the context-effects research traditions. Teachers' perspectives consider teaching as an integrating activity, intertwined with students, subject matter, instruction, dynamics of the school setting, and features of the immediate workplace environment. Results indicate ways of informing educators, administrators, and policymakers with respect to improving the conditions and quality of teaching, and they suggest principles and strategies for redesigning contexts to support teachers' professional growth and success in the classroom. The discussion includes a graphic representation of multiple and embedded contexts of teaching. (LL)