Wow Allison,
Great News!
I'm so glad your tester is on your wavelength! That's a wonderful price. I would ask her to do the WJ achievement, and some above-level achievement tests that will work for the Iowa Acceleration Scale Manual, such as
ITBS/Explore/ACT/CAT
these are tests that are usually used at grade level as an acheivement test, but if you administer them 2 years ahead of the intended age, and score above 75percentile for the older kids, thats up to 10 additional points on your Iowa Acceleration Scale.
All that info together will help you be sure that a skip into first at the public school.
Alternativly, you can see if the Montessori will place him in the 6-7-8 room with the understanding that he will be there for as long or short as it takes him to complete the highest level of work they have. Obviously he won't be there for three years, but that doesn't mean it's not a good choice for one year. Ruf estimated level III and up kids tend to be hard to place academically, so instead of looking for the big solution, look for "this year, and maybe next."
I call this the Goldilocks problem. Last year DS11 was totally swamped organizationally at his new school with the grade skip and middle school and all. This year he is back to his old tricks of completing his homework in study halls, and 75% of the time doing scary wonderful, and 25% or less totally blowing the organizational parts. That's a big jump, and I'm starting to think that by next year he'll be back to sleepwalking. Why can't he have a nice even, calm existience? Too easy, too hard, where is my just right?
Best Wishes Allison,
I'm so pleased for your family!
Trinity
Both are good choices.
