The problem of this study was whether there was greater improvement in cognitive abilities and affective behaviors of disadvantaged black students in an open education program as compared with a traditional education program. Two random samples were drawn from the sixth grade population of a middle school. Ninety students were selected from the traditional education classes from a total population of 282. An additional ninety students were selected from the open education classroom which housed a total of 135 students. The major findings of this study are: (1) the subjects were randomly assigned to the traditional and open education classes as the school administration had claimed, (2) there were no significant differences between educational programs, between sexes, and between ages 11 and 12 in terms of the cognitive and affective variables, and (3) there were no significant differences between the teaching practices of the traditional and open education teachers. These findings did not substantiate the hypotheses and so all four were rejected. The supplementary findings of this study were that the mean scores on the achievement variables were below grade level at the beginning of the school year and the gains on these variables were so slight that by the end of the school year, a net loss in achievement was actually incurred. (Author/AM)