The Effect of Assessment Method on End of Course Geometry and Algebra Achievement

The purpose of this dissertation was to add to the existing research concerning the effects of assessment on mathematics achievement. The effects by gender or SES of students enrolled in school districts that used a commercial assessment versus school districts that used local assessments on mathematics achievement as measured by the end of course algebra I exam or end of course geometry exam. This quantitative, causal comparative study was performed in six rural high schools in the Arkansas River Valley. The high schools had an approximate 700-student population of which 53% were categorized as free and/or reduced lunch and 51% were female. The end of course algebra I exam and geometry exam, given to all students enrolled in each course, was used as the instrument to measure mathematics achievement. Included in the sample were all first time 9th graders for algebra I and first time 10th graders for geometry. Exactly 711 students comprised the sample. The students were classified according to their gender, SES, and the type of assessment method. The two categories of assessment were student enrolled in a course where The Learning Institute (TLI) interim assessment was used versus where a locally made assessment was used. Four 2 x 2 factorial ANCOVA’s were used to analyze the data for all hypothesis. No significant interaction effects were observed between students for assessment type and gender or assessment type and SES. For algebra achievement, there were significant difference found for assessment type but not for the main effects of gender or SES. For geometry, there were significant differences found for the main effects of assessment type, gender, and SES