The accountability measures implemented by the states as a result of federal government mandates required by the No Child Left Behind Act (2001 [NCLB]) have created the need for states to develop standardized benchmark assessments as part of the compliance requirements set by the federally mandated act. State and local standardized tests have become an everyday part of public school life.

A quantitative study was conducted to assess the correlation of students' scores on the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) and students' reading percent scale-scores on one Florida county's benchmark reading assessment (CBAT) with students' teacher-assigned grades (TAG) for 10th-grade, English Language Arts courses. The study also assessed the predictive values of the 3 criterion variables and the moderating effects of 6 categorical variables: Race (White, Black, and Hispanic), Socioeconomic status (SES), English Language Learner status (ELL), and Students with Disabilities status (SWD), which contribute to Florida's Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) ranking of school grading policy.

The study found that there was a moderate and positive correlation among the 3 criterion variables and that the combination of students' scores on the reading portions of both the CBAT and the FCAT showed a significant predictive value in predicting students' TAG. The study showed an even higher predictive value of the combination of students' scores on the CBAT and students' TAG in predicting students' scores on the FCAT.

The study showed there was a moderating effect of the categorical variable Race on the correlation between students' CBAT reading scores and students' TAG; however, Race did not moderate the correlation between students' scores on FCAT and students' TAG. The study found a moderating effect of the categorical variable SES on the correlation between students' scores on CBAT and students' TAG, while the study showed no moderating effect of SES between students' scores on FCAT and students' TAG. The study showed a moderating effect of the categorical variable ELL between students' scores on FCAT and students' TAG and between students' scores on CBAT and students' TAG. The categorical variable SWD did not show any moderating effect between students' scores on CBAT and students' TAG, or between students' scores on FCAT and students' TAG.