| The primary purpose for this study was to determine how and to what degree grades that students earn in their sophomore mathematics classes may be used to predict their ultimate scores on math section of the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards High School (AIMS HS) assessment (ADE, 2010a). Students need to have the support of a teacher, school, district, and state in order to "meet the standards" of the AIMS HS assessment and do well throughout high school in all grades (ADE, 2005). Private schools in the state of Arizona are not required to take the AIMS HS assessment, but could have volunteered to participate in this standardized assessment if they choose, AZ Leg (2010). Consequently, there is little quantitative research done with this focus for private schools. Many researchers believe educators must be able to interpret student's achievement from assessments. Not only do teacher's measure student achievement in the classroom by the use of quizzes, tests, or exams, but in standardized assessments as well. This research study reiterates the reliability of the AIMS HS standardized mathematics section. Bourgade Catholic High School students have shown the relationship of achievement from taking AIMS HS math assessment and receiving correlating course final grades in mathematics of their sophomore year. AIMS HS has demonstrated year after year assessment scores from consistent populations of students from Arizona. The data collected from Bourgade Catholic High School provided a vast impression of the grades received in the math course and score received on the AIMS HS math assessment. The report revealed the AIMS HS math assessment scores and final grades students received in their sophomore level geometry course along with demographics: student grade level, gender, and ethnicity. The population totality is dedicated to three years of consecutive data for the 2007-2010 sophomore math grades in geometry and those scores of the 2007-2010 junior mathematics portion of the AIMS HS. The results of this study indicated significant positive correlation between AIMS HS math assessment scores and the achievement of the math grades received by teachers in tenth grade. Furthermore, sophomore math course grades, gender, and ethnicity provided powerful influences in predicting AIMS HS math scores. |
