ONE THOUSAND STUDENT ESSAYS WERE ANALYZED TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT STUDENTS WHOSE TEACHERS POSSESS "MORE STRICT" STANDARDS IN COMPOSITION INSTRUCTION PERFORM DIFFERENTLY ON A STANDARDIZED ESSAY TEST THAN DO THOSE WHOSE TEACHERS HAVE "LESS STRICT" STANDARDS. FIFTH- AND SIXTH-GRADE CHILDREN FROM ALL OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS AND FROM DEPRIVED, AVERAGE, AND MIDDLE CLASS AREAS OF NIAGRA FALLS, NEW YORK, AND THEIR 100 TEACHERS PARTICIPATED IN THE STUDY. THE "TEACHER WRITING STANDARDS INVENTORY," ESPECIALLY DEVELOPED FOR THE STUDY, WAS USED BY THE TEACHERS AND STUDENTS IN RATING THE TEACHERS' WRITING STANDARDS. ESSAYS PRODUCED BY THE CHILDREN--USING THE "SEQUENTIAL TESTS OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS (STEP) ESSAY TEST," LEVEL 4, FORM D--WERE RANDOMLY SELECTED FOR ANALYSIS FROM FIVE GIRLS AND FIVE BOYS IN EACH CLASSROOM. THOSE COMPOSITIONS WRITTEN BY STUDENTS OF TEACHERS RATED "MORE STRICT" WERE KEPT SEPARATE FROM THOSE WRITTEN BY STUDENTS OF TEACHERS RATED "LESS STRICT," AND, SUBSEQUENTLY, THE PAPERS WERE DIVIDED INTO NORM AND VALIDATION GROUPS. SCORED FOR OVER-ALL QUALITY BY EXPERIENCED JUDGES USING THE STEP MANUAL, THE COMPOSITIONS WERE ALSO ANALYZED FOR (1) TOTAL WORDS, (2) NUMBER OF IDEAS, (3) NUMBER OF IDEAS NOT MENTIONED BY OTHERS, (4) NUMBER OF SPELLING ERRORS, AND (5) NUMBERS OF CAPITALIZATION AND END-PUNCTUATION ERRORS. NO STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN WRITING PERFORMANCE WERE REVEALED BETWEEN THE "MORE STRICT" AND "LESS STRICT" GROUPS, ALTHOUGH THE SMALL DIFFERENCES WHICH DID OCCUR FAVORED THE "LESS STRICT" STANDARDS. (THIS PAPER WAS PRESENTED AT THE 1967 NCTE ANNUAL CONVENTION.) (RD)