My DD11 took both SCAT and EXPLORE in 2nd and 4th grade respectively. SCAT confirmed that she is HG and EXPLORE was to see if she would qualify for DYS. We had some reservation because she skipped kinder. She did not mind taking those 3-4 hrs tests. It did help our advocacy to her old school and also made us aware that whatever the old school was doing may not be enough and we decided to move to a school district with more pro Gifted attitude.
With our experience, one year above level test does not move a needle (in most schools) but at least 2 yrs above grade level tests (such as SCAT or EXPLORE) do. And they are relatively cheap and since they are nation wide standardized testing, they can't argue that we made up the score.
