This study investigated whether the self-esteem of disadvantaged adult students can be influenced by group guidance experiences; and to what degree, and how, academic achievement is influenced by changes in self-esteem. Subjects (59 Negro women in a clerical training program in Detroit) were divided into two experimental and two control groups. A ten week group guidance experience was provided for experimental subjects. Pretest and posttest measures were obtained using the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale and a specially designed self-esteem inventory. Academic achievement was measured by the language arts and arithmetic achievement subtests of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. Findings included the following: (1) group guidance appeared to exert a negative but insignificant influence on self-esteem; (2) improved self-esteem was positively related to improved academic achievement; (3) control group dropouts showed slightly lower self-esteem, and significantly lower language achievement, than persisters; (4) the disadvantaged adults did not score lower on self-esteem than a normal population. (Author/LY)