Third-, fifth-, and eighth-grade pupil achievement test results in the 1970-71 school year are contrasted in terms of types of school plants, with those schools that had been in operation in a recently constructed school plant for at least one year grouped as "Innovative." Differences in ability levels of pupils were taken into account in all the reported analyses. Pupils in innovative plants made their strongest showing at the third-grade level, with boys stronger than girls. White third-grade boys' test results favored conventional schools, black boys, innovative schools. At the fifth-grade level white boys' test scores again favored conventional plants; eighth-year test results generally favored conventional plants for all sex/race groups except black boys. Correlation is drawn between the test results and the length of time the fifth-year pupils had attended school in the county school system. Causal interpretations of the findings are dependent upon further analysis of the data and on future longitudinal studies to reduce the speculative elements involved in accepting data-based hypotheses about the programs' effectiveness. (Author/LH)