Many schools that I've seen/heard about don't care 2 bits for IQ tests. But if you live in a place where Explore is normally given to 8th graders and can show that your DD does as well as the 50% percentile of them, that will probably make their eyes pop a bit.
Anyway, the general principle is to 'speak your schools language' whatever the local language happens to be - SAT, Explore, MAP, State achievement tests, CogAT, end of year tests, or worksheet in her own handwriting.
I do think that speaking their language is important. We've found that with dd10 it has been a harder uphill battle b/c the things she's done outstandingly well or on (WISC, WIAT, Explore) don't count in their books b/c they aren't the tests they usually consider. The Explore one is funny b/c she did slightly better than the avg 8th grader in math at age 9 (4th grade) and better than nearly 80% of 8th graders in math in 5th grade (age 10) and no one batted an eye. It meant virtually nothing even though the Explore is used regularly in our local middle schools. It's not the CSAP or the CogAT so it is "alternative data" and they aren't sure that they can consider that type of thing.
Being told that the CogAT proved the WISC scores were wrong really got me especially when she was retested on the WISC and did extremely well a second time.
Dd12 tests well on both the things dd10 does well on and the more standard group tests that the school system normally considers so she's been a cake walk in comparison.
