A study was conducted of how children's expectations for their own school performance develop over their first-grade year and what factors influence these expectations. Expectations for performance in reading and arithmetic were studied. Both middle class and lower class (black and white) children have higher expectations than their subsequent marks warrant, but the discrepancy is much greater for lower class children. These expectations are remarkably resistant to change over the first-grade year, but the limited evidence now available suggests that expectations are modified to conform with marks rather than the reverse. (Author/CS)