The Conceptions of Reading project is examining the role of teacher beliefs and predispositions within the classroom, a complex task that has required modification of both conceptualization and research methodology. This paper discusses the original goals of the project, changes that have resulted from the first year of pilot studies, and proposed future work. Among the findings that resulted from initial case studies were that belief systems were more complex than initially hypothesized; that many teachers did not hold a set of beliefs about what constitutes good reading instruction for pupils in general, varying their views according to the learning rate of the child and the stage of reading acquistion; and that some teachers had predispositions toward certain groups of children, affecting both manner of supervision and allocation of instructional time. (AA)