The main purpose of this study was to see the effect of a Balanced Literacy program on the students' academic achievement (the 8th Grade NYS ELA exams) between the years of 2005, 2006, and 2007. This study analyzed the effects of Balanced Literacy on student achievement scores at the 8th grade level. In addition, the effect of teacher's training experience was examined as well. It analyzed the Southampton Intermediate School 8th grade population over a span of several years (between 2005, 2006 and 2007). At the same time, the influences of student's gender, family social economic status, student's ethnicity background were investigated. There were about 200 students in each of year data. This study was a mixed study design. The first part was quantitative by analyzing comparative data from the New York State 8th Grade English Language Arts exam from 2004-2005, 2005-2006 and 2006-2007. This exam assessed students' reading writing abilities. The second part was qualitative portion with teachers' interview to further discuss the issues within a Balanced Literacy classroom. The program certainly improved test scores at the 8th Grade Level. However, the improvements became evident in a year after the teachers were all trained and had implemented the program. This study has great significance in that many schools are battling curriculum decisions and pedagogical decisions in order to meet the standards and raise test scores. Now that the new Common Core standards are being implemented all over New York State and a completely new professional evaluation model as well is impacting districts significantly, this study is quite timely. All over the state of New York, and in other states where the importance of testing is rising, there is evidence that students are not meeting the standards and in some cases are falling far below state expectations. This study specifically looked at how effective the Balanced Literacy program was in teaching literacy at the middle school level and, therefore, improving student test scores. As evident from the findings gained through quantitative research, in 2006, which is the year of program implementation, the student's academic achievement and the corresponding test scores were lower than that of 2005. The main reason why the scores dropped in 2006 is because the teachers were still undergoing the training that was taking place in order to implement the program. The scores did change in 2007, however, when the test scores and, thus, student's academic achievement improved significantly as compared to that of 2006. The lowest test scores were found during the transitional period, when both teachers and students had to adjust to new approaches to teaching and learning, not only were the students learning a new approach in the classroom, but the teachers were as well. In 2007, after the process of initial adjustment, the scores improved for all the groups of students, disregarding their gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic status. Therefore, it is sound to assume that the implementation of the Balanced Literacy program is beneficial for students' overall academic achievement and does ultimately have a profound impact on student test scores. Findings suggest that application of a Balanced Literacy approach is likely to benefit schools, positively impacting student achievement at the middle school level. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]