THE FIRST TASK OF THIS RESEARCH WAS TO CONSTRUCT A SET OF INSTRUMENTS FOR THE COLLECTION OF DATA ON CHILDREN'S SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT. THE PURPOSE WAS TO PRODUCE INSTRUMENTS WITH A CLOSER RELATIONSHIP TO THE CLASSROOM SETTING AND THE INTERESTS AND CONCERNS OF TEACHERS THAN MOST OF THE AVAILABLE ONES SEEMED TO PROVIDE. A LARGE POOL OF ITEMS WAS GATHERED AND ADMINISTERED TO A STRATIFIED SAMPLE OF 430 THIRD-, FIFTH-, SEVENTH-, NINTH-, AND ELEVENTH-GRADE CHILDREN. EXTENSIVE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS WAS MADE WHICH CULMINATED IN A FACTOR ANALYSIS. FROM THE FINDINGS, THREE TYPES OF INSTRUMENTS WERE CONSTRUCTED--A CLASSROOM QUESTIONNAIRE, A SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL, AND A CARD SORT. THE INSTRUMENTS WERE THEN USED WITH THE SAMPLE TO COLLECT DATA ON--(1) THE CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT WITH SUBDIMENSIONS FOR LEARNING, SOCIAL STRUCTURE, SOCIAL CLIMATE, AND MENTAL HEALTH, (2) SELF-CONCEPTS, AND (3) SELF-NEEDS. IT WAS CONCLUDED THAT THE CURRENT STRESS ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT HAS NOT FORCED CHILDREN'S NEEDS INTO A DOMINANT POSITION. THE NEED FOR AFFILIATION WAS FOUND TO BE THE MOST PRONOUNCED. WHEN VIEWED AS TWO GLOBAL VARIABLES, PERSONAL SOCIAL ACHIEVEMENT AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT DID NOT APPEAR TO BE RELATED, SIGNIFICANTLY, IN THE CLASSROOM GROUPS. THE PRIMARY IMPLICATION DERIVED FROM THIS STUDY WAS THAT A MAJOR TASK OF TEACHERS IS TO PREVENT THE DEVELOPMENT OF A HIGH, POSITIVE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERSONAL-SOCIAL AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN THE CLASSROOM. (GD)