Don't beat yourself over the head. The grade skip stands on its own and if it was a good choice overall, then it is still a good choice.

Some students, particularly at certain ages, are simply slower or may have trouble detaching and moving on even if they aren't terribly slow.

If it makes you feel any better, my DD, who has not been grade-skipped, took the Explore two years ago (3rd grade, age 8) as well as one year ago (4th grade, age 9), and actually had her reading score dropped from 15 and her science score stayed the same at 17. Now she knew that she messed up those two sections particularly immediately after the test because she got stuck and left so many questions blank, so I was able to reassure her immmediately that the scores didn't matter.

This school year, at age 10, her speed has improved overall and her teacher even complimented her on her great use of time during tests and other writing assignments. While DS (her twin) rushes through each assigment and invariably finishes first and gets an A, DD uses any left over time to edit and refine her answers to get that A+. It would have been interesting to see how she would have handled the Explore this year but I didn't feel like traveling two hours for just DD (DS already hit the ceiling last year) and she had to test almost every week-end in January for admission to middle schools.

Anyhow, the point that I wanted to make was that the Explore, particularly for a slower kid, may actually not be the best tool to assess how much they are learning in school. For example, I know that DD learned a ton of science between the 2nd half of 3rd grade and the 1st half of 4th grade, yet her science score stayed at 17 in 4th grade. Similarly, I know that her reading comprehension did not dropped during that period but her Explore score dropped from the 15 that she received in 3rd grade. MAP, which is untimed, may actually be more accurate in assessing math and reading.

Since she is already in 4th grade, perhaps consider skip testing for just 1 year and she can use the SAT or the ACT in 6th grade?

Last edited by Quantum2003; 03/06/14 01:31 PM.