When comparisons of average test score results or grade level equivalents are made in terms of Negro and white students by standard metropolitan statistical areas (SMSA), non-SMSA, and within regions, white students in every region, regardless whether metropolitan or nonmetropolitan, have higher average scores in every type of test at every grade level. For any given group of regions, Negro students show much more variability by region in average test scores than do white students. Both Negroes and white students exhibit ever-increasing variability across regions in average test scores as they progress from grade to grade, but Negro students show a greater variability. In comparing the possible influence on achievement of metropolitan versus regional residence, for Negroes, it has been found that regional differences have an increasingly greater long-term influence. For white students, metropolitan or nonmetropolitan residence appears to be a more important factor than regional differences in the achievement of superior test scores. (NH)