A Longitudinal Study of Metropolitan Achievement Test Scores

Abstract

This longitudinal study compared how well students scored on the Metropolitan Achievement Test (sixth edition) (MAT6) in third grade, fourth grade, and fifth grade. Thus, the study examined the scaled scores of 50 randomly selected students over a three year period. The comparison of performance means between grades, and between genders at each grade, were drawn by conducting statistical t-tests. The three subtests of the MAT6 that were used in this study were; total reading, total math, and social studies. Of the 50 students selected, 28 were boys and 22 were girls. It was found that there was a substantial statistically significant increase of scores from third grade to fourth grade among the 50 students on all three subtests (reading t=9.021, math t=S.886, social studies t=7.979). However, there was no statistically significant difference between fourth grade scores and fifth grade scores on any of the subtests. It was also found that there was no statistically significant difference between the boys' scores and the girls' scores on any of the three subtests at any grade level. It was concluded that the statistically significant increase in fourth grade reading, math, and social studies scores from third grade could be due to a variety of factors. The conclusion discusses such possibilities as "test coaching", a more closely aligned fourth grade curriculum with the MAT6 format than that of third or fifth grade, and cognitive developmental factors.