This study compares open education groups and traditional education groups with respect to student attitudes toward high school; creative thinking of students; collaborative behavior among students; and student preferences for intellectual activities, activities involving change or sameness, and activities involving autonomy or dependence. Groups of first-year students from 20 different high schools in Victoria, Australia, were selected for comparison during one school year across three categories: open and traditional, metropolitan and rural location of groups, and school size. Differences over time were assessed by using an analysis of covariance technique, and differences between the two groups were assessed by t-tests. Research findings indicate in part that open groups were, toward the end of the school year, significantly more positive in their attitudes toward high school than were the traditional groups, and that open groups were also significantly more collaborative. Although the groups showed no significant difference with respect to preferred activities, the open groups did fall well below the performance levels of the traditional groups in creative thinking early in the school year. (Author/DN)