Melessa, our elementary school used DRA assessments to track reading. Did the teacher give test him as far as he could go with the assessments? It sounds like she did not back in October - doing "fine" on an 8 and then arbitrarily assigning a level 10. The idea is that the teacher should keep giving progressively higher level assessments until the student isn't able to pass the assessment. (The assessments are basically reading a book aloud to the teacher and then orally answering comprehension questions). If he was tested all the way up to his current level (and topped out there), that's a-ok... but if he wasn't tested until he topped out, then I would request a re-assessment with the DRA.

Re DRA level vs AR level - you can google and find charts that compare the levels. From a quick google (don't take my word for it - I did this *quickly*) it looks like a DRA level 14-16 is end-of-first grade and AR 3 is beginning of 3rd grade.

Try not to worry about the meeting until you're there - and if you come up with a question that you don't have time to submit before the meeting, don't worry about it - ask it anyway! I understand the teacher wanting to be able to prepare to answer your questions but at the same time - meetings like this tend to generate more questions.

Best wishes,

polarbear