I asked a similar question a while ago. My daughter at the beginning of 4th grade got a score that was basically off the chart even for 7th graders. I just couldn't see how that's possible given that I know what really advanced 7th graders can do (I have an older child who is strong in math so I know what he was doing in 7th grade). I got different answers when I asked around. Our teacher said that the NWEA score can't be used as an indicator for grade levels; some in this forum said that it can. I think that both were correct: within the "band" of the test that the child used, the score can be an indicator of grade level. But the score can't be used this way across bands. The score indicates how solidly one grasps the concepts, but not necessarily how many concepts one knows.
We didn't find the NWEA scores useful for our kids in any way. If a child showed weaknesses in certain areas, teachers can tell from the scores and help the child focus on these areas. But if a child showed overall mastery of all the concepts, we find that the teachers tend to do nothing extra (at our school, of course).
