The Multi-Ethnic School Environments Study evolved in response to the need for a research base for identifying special teacher training needs in newly desegregated school districts. The ultimate goal of this five year project is to generate teacher training processes and materials to aid teachers in coping with the realities of desegregation. The first phase (1978-1979) was a year of ethnographic research which examined teachers' efforts to organize their classrooms and to encourage the integration of students in newly desegregated classes. This volume of the research report presents case studies of the four classrooms which were observed for the project. Each study is introduced by background information on the community, school district, and the desegregation plans. The school and classroom; teachers and students; teachers' beliefs, expectations and instructional practices; and the social order of the classroom are also described. (Author/MK)