That said, I do think my own skip experience had a similar thought process. IIRC, they tried to stop the grade skip based on one stand alone English grade "only" being at the 86th. The rest of his scores were >95th for the receiving grade, with math even higher.
That's right about where my dd13 was when she skipped. She was tested on grade level achievement right after skipping and her math scores were right around low 90s if I recall correctly (that was her stand out low) and she was still 99th for reading. I don't think that they tested anything else.
I was going to say, though, that my recall was that the IAS isn't very specific as to how above grade level the aptitude test needed to be. Dd took the EXPLORE. She was in 4th and skipping 5th, so it was 4 grades above level and she certainly wasn't in the 95th on any part of it. She was close on one or two parts, but there were parts (math again) where I can't recall if she even came in average for an 8th grader.
Another way around my question: Is the Aptitude bit even necessary if we're getting >10 points with achievement and IQ?
I'd say, "no." My dd's skip was approved by the district before we even had the above level test scores in b/c she clearly qualified on the rest of it and had the 10+ pts without it, like your ds.
With an IQ in the range you've got plus him being old for grade, I can't imagine that a skip would be a poor idea unless there are other social issues. It sounds like they are setting an impossible hurdle.
