Welcome!

Originally Posted by th79
He has been asking to complete the skip and just move ahead completely next year but the school seems opposed.

I have been starting to think some independent testing for him would be worth looking into, and wondered if anyone has any recommendations.

Any certain test to look for first? Cost-effective options? Any help would really be appreciated.

The Iowa Acceleration Scale (IAS), described here on Hoagies' Gifted Education Page, is the gold standard for evaluating evidence for/against a full-grade skip at a given point in time.

The IAS is in its 3rd edition (2009) and is therefore sometimes called IAS-3.

There are three parts to the IAS:
1) Manual (re-usable paperback with process description, essays, examples)
2) Form (one form is completed for each child, each time an acceleration is considered)
3) Summary and Planning Record (one summary and planning record is completed for each child, each time an acceleration is considered)

The IAS is described on the website of the Acceleration Institute and is available from Great Potential Press. If your school is not aware of the IAS, you may wish to share this information with them.

The IAS recommends tests which measure student ability, aptitude, and achievement:
  • Ability
    Most recent Wechsler or Binet, Woodcock-Johnson... or CogAT
  • Aptitude
    Above-level tests such as ITBS (for 2 grade levels above child's current placement), EXPLORE, or ACT
  • Achievement
    Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT) or Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement (WJ-ACH).
For information on finding a tester, see Hoagies Gifted Education Page, Psychologists familiar with testing the gifted. Some universities offer testing at greatly reduced rates through their Psychology departments, however these testers may not be familiar with the gifted.

For information on testing, see this old post from a thread whose subject is What do you tell your DC before IQ testing?
Other posts on this topic include this one from a thread whose subject is Help! What do I tell him about the testing?

Here is an old post with a roundup of links/posts on the subject of How much error can there be in test scores?

Here is an old post with a roundup of threads discussing pros and cons of acceleration experiences.