Summary:
A review of the literature pertaining to the effect and influence that interim assessments have on student achievement lacks quantitative data to determine the efficiency of their use in the classroom as a school reform tool. This study examined the strength and the direction of the relationships between interim pre and posttest assessments in language arts and mathematics in Grade 8 and student achievement on the New Jersey Grade 8 state standardized tests in those subjects. Analyses were conducted using simultaneous multiple regression models. All student data explored in this study pertained to 670 students in Grade 8 enrolled in four middle schools located in a suburban/urban central New Jersey community during the 2008-2009 academic school year. The results of the study revealed each school produced a combination of site specific results and the interim pretests accounted for the same or almost the same amount of variance in state test scores as the interim posttests.
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