Originally Posted by gratefulmom
It's really just the seemingly-bragging posts that made me think of this. FWIW, I too didn't realize the difference until DS's testing for K. What he was able to read for pleasure and where his comp. tests scored, while both extremely high, were still multi-grade levels apart. Now that I've gone through that, that's what comes to mind when I see the pre-school brags. smile

I think grade levels are usually quoted as shorthand for not-a-little-ahead. Otherwise, I'm not sure how much meaning they have. It is possible, however, that a kid who seems to read everything at 4 or 5 really *does* understand it and tests at school as having mastery of higher levels, not just decoding at those levels.