One more downside of the DRA. We found it can have a dampening effect on a child too. DD at 6 was reading the little house on the praire series at home and suddenly stopped and reverted to preschool books exclusively. We found out later it was because her teacher told her she couldn't read higher level books because her comprehension was poor (based on oral retelling by a shy child!) When she got to where she could write her summaries, her teacher congratulated herself for the tremendous improvement in comprehension.

Since I don't have a "smiley face rolling my eyes" icon, I'll have to go with this...

Lulu,

I think you did get an accurate level from the DRA. Kudos to your teacher for recognizing your child's ability and understanding the limits and proper use of the tool.

Master of None,

Sounds like we had the same experiences. I have a friend going through a similar issue as well. It is very upsetting. Oh well, this too shall pass.

Out gifted teacher discreetly pointed out that my son's lower DRA score was to make it easier to show improvement as the year progresses. Manipulating data , now who would do that?

I'm shocked

I'm not. As a teacher I recognize the unreasonable pressure to show/demonstrate growth/improvement. set a low baseline easier to get improvement. It is all part of a giant game.