Educators have been faced with increasing demands to not only achieve, but also improve reading scores across the nation. Educational research of literacy abilities and reading achievement performance on state assessments have been researched and documented for decades. However, there has been little research on middle school literacy and state assessment reading achievement. Specifically, reading fluency is a component that has often not been mastered by Grade 5. Due to these deficiencies in basic reading skills in middle school students, there is a need to contribute to fill this gap in the educational research field of middle school students' literacy. Therefore, this study contributes to the body of knowledge of middle school students' literary achievement in relation to performance on state-standardized reading achievement tests. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent the aimswebPlus™ assessment tool for oral reading fluency (ORF) could serve as an accurate tool as a predictor for overall reading comprehension scores on the TNReady assessment for Grades 6-8. The study determined whether ORF scores could predict the students' TNReady scores for reading in each Grade 6-8. The research also determined if there was a significant impact on TNReady scores because of gender, economically disadvantaged status, and ethnicity. The 149 participants (75 female, 74 male) in the study were from a rural middle school in West Tennessee from Grades 6-8 students that took both the aimswebPlus(TM) ORF assessment and TNReady Reading assessment in the 2016-2017 school year. A multiple regression forward stepwise analysis was conducted to answer the research questions for Grades 6, 7, and 8. A regression equation was found with a significant variable of ORF for Grades 6 and 7. The other variables of gender, economically disadvantaged status, and ethnicity did not have a statistically significant impact on scores for Grades 6 and 7. In Grade 8, the variable of race was the statistically significant variable that had an impact on TNReady Reading assessment and a regression equation was found. Further implications of the results are discussed. [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.]