Student performance on high stakes testing in secondary education has contributed to the need for students' testing potential to be identified before entering high school. There is evidence to suggest that a greater understanding of how earlier test scores predict later test scores will help educators and school officials increase student performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the need for educational officials to improve ninth grade success rates and graduation rates. Rescher's coherence theory of critical reasoning and post positivism were the theoretical frameworks used to examine the relationship between student performance on the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) in Language Arts and Mathematics administered in 8th grade and student performance on the End-of-Course Tests (EOCT) in Mathematics and Language Arts administered in 9th grade. A nonexperimental, correlational, ex post facto design was used to examine these performance data. Data were gathered from school annals by selecting a convenience sample of 338 ninth graders from the 2011-2012 academic-year whose CRCT and EOCT scores were available. Test scores from the same student were examined using Pearson's r, which for Mathematics was 0.642 and 0.701 for Language Arts. The results indicated that student performance on the EOCT was moderately to strongly correlated with performance on the CRCT. It is recommended that schools institute academic interventions in the 9th grade to assist students who performed poorly on the CRCT in the 8th grade. Positive implications for social change include improved student performance on standardized assessments and improved graduation rates for schools. [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://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]