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Abstract
This paper will undertake an investigation into attitudes towards mathematics. Data from $27$ Denver Public High Schools reports that all students in the DPS high schools score on average 15 higher on reading/writing standardized tests than on math. The study speculates that this stems from attitudinal differences towards the subjects that students have. This study proposes a mathematical model that hypothesizes the school's environmental make-up, students home environment, and students performance on standardized tests affect students attitudes toward mathematics. The model will be implemented in the software package SMART-PLS that uses a partial least squares regression algorithm to estimate the latent variable ""Attitudes Towards Mathematics"" and investigate what factors affect math education. The study shows that Attitudes Towards Math affect performance on Standardized Testing and Home Environment affects students Attitudes Towards Math and Standardized Testing Performance.