Welcome back Jenny!
Great to hear that thing are 'so-so' - that's wonderful!
((shiver, but yeah, it is))
Is your friend in CT? (If so, get all the kids to some "Minds in Motion" programs through CAG.) Are Private schools an option?
I looked up DRA of 29, and it puts him squarely in the middle of 3rd grade, so assuming he's in 2nd grade, there are probably several other kids in his grade at the same level. So I conclude from that that either:
a) he needs glasses
or
b) that they stopped the test at level 29, figuring 'well, we aren't going to do anything for him if he's above grade level, so there is no point in putting him through further testing.'
the way to check is to find out what he's currently reading, just pick 5 books at random that he likes, and go to Scholastic's website and click on 'book wizard' tab -
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4476They'll tell you grade level. IF the grade level is consistiently well over 3rd grade, then yes, they mismanaged the test in some way. In fact, if you click on the book title, you can see the DRA over on the left column. If there is a problem, type up a list of 20 books, with their DRA, and call the school for a meeting to ask pointed questions.
As for Aimsweb Math, the norms I think vary from test to test, and a phone call to Pearson might be in order. I found this:
http://www.aimsweb.com/uploads/pdfs/scoring_mcbm.pdfand
http://www.aimsweb.com/measures-2/mathematics-cbm/which are worth looking at to show what the tests tested.
I would probably have the child do an assesment on Aleks.com or get Sinapore Math placement tests, free here:
http://www.singaporemath.com/Placement_Test_s/86.htm(ok, worksheet are more impressive than computer printouts - schools like to see it in the child's handwriting)
As for cheep IQ tests, I think
www.talentigniter.com/ is probably better than nothing, not so much to show the school, but to impress the parents with what they are dealing with.
You might try calling local universities and seeing if there are any studies that the child can volunteer for that do free IQ test are part of the experiment.
That's all I can think of for now -
Grinity
