Observational data on six first and second grade teachers were analyzed qualitatively to determine whether any of these teachers provided "assisted learning" during reading instruction. Assisted learning was defined as the teacher's intentional efforts to structure the students' learning experiences so that they could learn more easily. It was anticipated that some of the observed teachers would display patterns of assistance consistent with both the various outcomes of reading and the several components of instruction, including the concept of assisted learning. Although there was some evidence that two of the teachers displayed patterns of assistance, the overwhelming instructional activity across all six teachers was recitation, which made assistance incidental to the task of completing the activity. In short, most of these teachers taught as if the primary responsibility were on the child to learn rather than on the teacher to teach. (Profiles of the six teachers' case studies are attached.) (RL)