A group of highly regarded schools in affluent suburban areas was divided into two groups: those judged to have a traditional orientation and those judged to have a more experimental orientation, in terms of course and program structure. A review of the mean Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) from the 1966, 1969, 1973, and 1976 graduating classes from these schools showed that (1) mean SAT scores for both school groups were substantially higher than national averages; (2) declines in mean SAT scores for both groups over the period studied very nearly paralleled the national declines; and (3) declines for experimental schools were slightly larger than those for the traditional schools. This was a small-scale pilot test using available data. Because of the relatively fallible procedures used for classifying schools, and because of a general lack of experimental controls of extraneous factors, the results cannot support any general decline. (Author/EVH)