In some cases, the school's testing is necessary (for their program, for instance) or very helpful (some schools actually properly administer full tests!
).
We've done testing both ways. The school's test was needed for their program, but was only a "partial test," with a low ceiling. We only received the "final score" in the mail - no further explanation, no analysis, no breakdown, etc. The private testing had higher ceilings, complete explanations, descriptions, and a chance to ask the tester questions and hear how our DC answered the questions - MUCH more informative. After learning from my experiences with the school testing with my older DC, I chose to do things differently with the younger DC (did the testing earlier, with a private tester).
