This study examined factors contributing to achievement among adult basic education students, with emphasis on the student-teacher relationship as determined by differences between the two groups in values, attitudes, and perceptions of student problems. Subjects were 120 students and 12 teachers in an adult basic education program in the Mississippi Delta region. Student achievement was measured by grade level scores on pretests and posttests using the Adult Basic Learning Examination; values, attitudes, and perceptions were assessed by the special Attitude-Problem Questionnaire. Findings included the following: (1) although teachers were lower middle to middle class in values and attitudes and most students (87.5%) were of a lower class than the teachers, student responses did not conform to the stereotyped values and attitudes of the disadvantaged; (2) teachers were less alike in their assessment of students' problems than in their own attitudes and values; (3) no significant relationship could be found between the achievement of students and their similarity or dissimilarity to their teachers in the indicated areas. Limiting factors in the study were also noted. (author/ly)