There is an ongoing debate among instructional personnel, parents, legislators, and the community at large about the nature and purpose of testing in the educational system. State and district-based testing programs have been criticized as "over-testing" policies. The result of the criticism culminates in a reduction of assessment program implementations--either being removed or significantly scaled back with a corresponding decrease in available student information used to lead instruction, evaluate district initiatives, or predict future student performance. This study shows progress monitoring, or interim, test usefulness and appropriateness by examining student performance scores on locally-created interim tests for middle school science courses and compare them to student performance scores on the state-wide standardized summative test to determine the predictive validity while controlling for student, class, and school characteristics. The result is a statistically significant model that predicts student success on the state science exam based on aggregated student progress monitor scores. [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.]