This study was designed to survey and describe the preservice education, inservice education, and the stated needs and problems of elementary school teachers of reading, grades one through six, in selected parishes of southwestern Louisiana and, also, to make comparisons in the manner each of eight dichotomous groups of respondents who had different characteristics ranked the stated needs and problems in teaching reading. Of the 969 elementary school teachers of reading who were sent questionnaires, 903 returned completed forms. Some of the findings included: the majority of respondents were under forty years of age; only 3.98 percent of the respondents held membership in the International Reading Association; over two-thirds of the respondents stated a need for additional preparation for treating reading difficulties and for remedial instruction; the greatest need of the respondents was providing for disabled readers in the classroom; ability grouping was utilized on a daily basis by more than 80 percent of the respondents; and the respondents reported that the most frequent source of assistance in teaching reading was their fellow teachers. (Author/WR)