Five parochial open elementary schools were compared with two traditional parochial schools to determine their effects on student attitudes toward self and learning, as well as the development of educational and other cognitive skills. All schools but one were located in the inner-city. Males and females, blacks and whites, as well as various income levels were represented by the total sample which numbered 665 for the first year of the two year study. Schools were generally equivalent in academic quality independent of type of program. The open schools held their own with the traditional schools in so far as student's scores on standardized achievement tests were concerned; but they were strongly superior in their effects on attitude toward teachers and schools, and generated statistically significant differences in a positive direction in general self-esteem as well as specifically school related self-esteem. A substudy of parent's childrearing styles and family structure was undertaken to confirm that the findings were due to differences in school organizations rather than family and home influence. Another substudy demonstrated that the open school students were somewhat stronger in cooperative skills. Measures of program characteristics were numerous, being split between known instruments used nationally and internationally, as well as those designed to fit the unique theoretical concerns of the study. A small follow-up study was undertaken to investigate student adjustment to traditional and open high schools. (RC)