This report summarizes a study of a staff development program to reduc
e disparity in educational achievement across race and sex. Teacher Ex
pectations and Student Achievement (TESA; Kerman, Kimball, & Martin, 1
980) was implemented in an elementary school. Achievement test scores,
attitudes toward school and self, perceptions of teacher practices, a
nd grade retentions were compared for the 306 students of teachers who
volunteered to participate in the experimental program, as well as st
udents in the same school (n = 329) and in a different school (n = 250
) whose teachers did not participate. The results differed depending u
pon which comparison group was used. A small positive effect is implie
d by the within-school comparison, and a negative effect is implied by
the between-school comparison.