In this descriptive study, the researcher compared the scores of two groups of middle
school students in the 2004-2006 school years on the mathematics section of the WESTEST.
Quantitative methods were used to analyze student performance. Public data published on the
WESTEST Assessment website was used to gather information because individual score reports
could not be obtained. Reports are posted of all West Virginia schools and include composite
means broken into the categories of gender, race/ethnicity, students with disabilities, limited
English proficiency, migrant, and economically disadvantaged students. Furthermore, mean
scores are given in each of the content standards evaluated on the test. Score reports were
examined by this researcher of two sets of students in grades 6-8 from different schools in the
2004, 2005, and 2006 school years, one which uses a traditional curriculum and the other entirely
standards-based.