Yes, it's not uncommon in our school district. Perhaps this is the set of kids that 'level out at 3rd/4th'? GS9 didn't get identified at the end of 2nd grade, and by the time his 3rd grade teacher saw enough of him it was too late to get him tested for the 1st half of the 3rd grade gifted program. He was tested for the math in the 2nd half, and accepted. They dragged their feet on testing him for reading, so by the time they did that it was the second week of 4th grade.

Our school uses the state guidelines for achievement tests, so it doesn't really negatively affect the younger gifted kids. They're going to float to the top 5% on a nationally normed test.