Perceptions about career ladders were studied in 254 pre-service and in-service teachers from two southern states at five different levels of socialization in their professional life: (1) 118 were students taking an entry-level course in teacher education; (2) 44 were senior students before student teaching; (3) 40 were senior students after student teaching; (4) 20 were first-year teachers; and (5) 32 were veteran teachers. A questionnaire was developed from literature on career ladder programs (CLPs). Participants were shown a videotape on CLPs before completing the questionnaire, designed to show changes in perceptions over five levels of professional socialization. As teachers were socialized into the profession, they generally expressed less agreement with the assumptions on which CLPs were based. Nearly half of the veteran teachers did not think that there would be greater incentives for teachers in a CLP. Reservations were expressed about the ability and competence of principals to evaluate effective teaching. However, first-year teachers formed a discrepant group; 80 percent of them considered principals good evaluators. (SLD)