The purpose of this research study was to ascertain whether there is a relationship between teachers' cognitive role taking aspect of empathy and the Virginia Standards of Learning (VSOL), English/Reading scores of their students. A correlational research design using hierarchical multiple regression was used to look for this relationship. In order to control for variables previous research has shown to contribute to student achievement, a teacher's years of experience, degree level, self-efficacy beliefs about managing classroom behavior and a teacher's expectations for her students were measured and placed into the regression equation. The study attempted to see if the relationship was stronger based on the ethnicity and course level of the students. The results indicate that the null hypothesis cannot be rejected. However, the results also indicated that the other teacher variables for which this study controlled were also not contributing to the variance in the test scores. These findings led to the conclusion that standardized tests, by their very nature, may possibly not be susceptible to teacher attributes or dispositions. Further, it was concluded that teachers may need to acknowledge that the VSOL, English/Reading tests may be measuring a very small part of student achievement which, in many cases, can be considered learning to pass the tests.