DD7 took the proficiency exam for 2nd grade math, reading, and language arts today. She needed a 90 to get a subject acceleration in each area, and a 90 in both math and reading averaged with lang arts to be allowed to test for science and social studies (where a 90 on both would result in a full grade skip to 3rd).
I spent the afternoon worrying that she'd pass reading and language arts, but not math, which would have been a poor placement for her. (She asked to skip specifically to get harder math, but math is generally her weaker subject.) As it happened, she got a 92 on each.
Since she passed both, no matter what the result is in the minor-subject tests, she'll get a placement that's good for her. Her preference is for a placement in 2nd with subject acceleration for math, reading, and language arts. As parents, we prefer a full grade skip (which is what I think she's likely to get, in any case). Her hesitation is entirely social, and I think she'll do better socially in the long run (beyond the first 2 weeks of school) with the full skip.
I will say that the tests (as far as I can tell) are not what I expected at all. DD reports that she was allowed to use a calculator for most of the math test (and I did see her using a calculator), and that they asked absolutely nothing about several of the topics specifically mentioned in the standards (like the parts of a friendly letter). DD commented that she did well on the test because she went into it without any expectation of what it would be like, and described the testing as both easy and fun.
Our district has ~16,000 kids K-4 to 12th, so maybe 13,500 in the grades likely to test. They have two testing dates a year, of which this was one. There were 4 kids testing today, including DD. So testing for an acceleration / skip really is quite rare in our district.
