I think the vocab score was correct.. that being said.. my son is an emerging reader. Just because he knows what the word means doesn't mean he is a superb reader. I would never put him into the 5th grade reading program they suggested.
IMHO any of the test-based screeners suffer from that weakness. It wouldn't surprise me if they were worthwhile for kids whose tested reading levels were within a grade either way of classroom level, or who were reading at grade level or below. But for above-level kids with good vocabularies, I don't know that they're particularly useful, for just the reason you've described.
Our district uses STAR reading, and it hugely overstates DD's actual reading ability. Her scores this past year were 3-4 grades higher than what she can comfortably read.
