The pattern of responses to the Enhancement of Learning Inventory (ELI), designed to assess a teacher's belief about the effectiveness of methods for teaching each pupil, is expected to: (1) reliably describe characteristics on which teachers differ; (2) relate to individual differences in pupil background and behavioral characteristics; and (3) provide a mediating structure guiding the teacher's role performances and their impact upon pupil psycho-educational development. A study was conducted to examine these issues using the ELI judgments of 35 teachers of economically disadvantaged preschool children, most of whom were enrolled in Head Start. Individual differences among teachers were found to have satisfactory reliabilities on a variety of ELI measures. Teacher belief patterns clearly were functionally related to pupil characteristics. Most striking was the extent to which pupil cognitive skills and response tempo at the time of preschool entry influenced the teachers' beliefs about effective teaching methods. While there was evidence that teacher belief patterns influence aspects of pupil psycho-educational development, the present findings indicated that pupil behavioral characteristics may have a greater impact upon teacher behavior than vice-versa. It is clear that the teacher's manner of coping with individual differences in children's intital receptivity to classroom learning is a critical factor in subsequent relationships between teacher and child. (For related document, see TM 003 020.) (Author/KM)