I think, for my part, the exceeds level has been explained as difficult to attain unless the child can show beyond grade level mastery for every single item within a category. If they don't even assess each item until the end of the year, then you only see 'progressing toward' or 'meets' as a notation, and you don't actually know how your child is demonstrating above-level (on the report card, vs talking to teacher). So it feels less substantive: 'here are the standards we've assessed, your child has met these' rather than 'here is how your child is doing relative to the grade-level and average student.'