The perceptions of students about caring teachers were studied in secondary Catholic and public magnet schools. Both types of schools were schools of choice, attended through student and family choice and not assignment by neighborhood. The sample for the study came from a national, federally funded project that studied the relationship between family choice and school responsiveness. The larger sample consisted of interviews with 300 high school seniors and their parents and 100 school teachers, counselors, and administrators. For this study, interviews from 88 African American students were used. The students attended four urban Catholic high schools, two public single-focus (one theme) urban magnet high schools, and two public multifocus (several areas of concentration) urban magnet high schools. Data were analyzed separately based on school type. The concept groups of "expectations,""encouraging," and "challenging" were emphasized in the conversations of students from all three types of schools, suggesting that these behaviors are consistent in defining caring for students in all the school types. Students from Catholic schools tended to associate helping and involving with caring teacher behavior more often than students in the public schools. The concept of relationship was mentioned more by Catholic school students and students from single-focus magnets. Concern was mentioned more often by Catholic and multifocus school students. It is suggested that students in Catholic high schools may have more personal interaction with parents and teachers and may expect and value such interaction more as indicative of caring. (Contains 4 tables and 30 references.) (SLD)