The school had insisted that my daughter was at a reading level 3L and last I knew an M guided reading level. This didn't make sense since she scored in the 99th percentile in reading on her WIAT that was done independently. Well dumb me ran with what the school said and had her take a DORA exam to find out where to start a guided reading level program. Now I need advice!

Her reading level score estimated equivalencies are as follows:
DRA1 and DRA2: max 44
Reading Recovery:beyond 34 max
Fountas & Pinell: beyond V max
Lexile: 1000

Her scores as grade levels are:
High frequency word subtest: maximum
Word Recognition Subtest: high 12th
Phonics analysis: maximum
Spelling subtest: mid 3rd (I'm not sure on this one based on her performance in school.)
Oral Vocab: high 5th (Not sure about this one either.)
Reading Comprehension Subtest: low 10th

Now that we are homeschooling I am lost as to what these results actually mean and how to proceed from here? Any advice or input is appreciated. (We had been doing Dear Mr. Henshaw with a teacher guide.)

Hi Melmichigan!
How old is your daughter?
Are you Homeschooling plus regular school? Or homeschooling only?
Does it matter what the school says her reading level is?
I'm confused.

Sorry, more details... My daughter is eight. Like many others we have been supplementing her education all along. This fall, after her begging all summer, we decided to solely homeschool her, so no it won't matter what the school says.

I am just at a loss, the school was so sure of their placement of her and convinced me that she was having so much trouble with reading. Writing I can understand, she has motor dysgraphia, but they were so sure she was struggling, they even failed her in most of 3rd grade LA. They told me that this kid who had always been so far ahead was now not keeping up. We had many discussions and conferences about it. Dumb mom listened and started her reading program this fall going back to 3/4th grade reading exercises. Oh, I'm so mad at myself and now at a loss as to what I should be working with her on. The only thing that stood out on the test was that she did poorly on inference questions, no surprise, she has Aspergers. I am looking for input and suggestions from anyone who understands where she is and has any suggestions as to where to go from here? I am somewhat limited because I homeschool under a non-public school determination from the state so she can receive ancillary services, so I have to document what she is learning.

The testing report did align to Michigan state standards and printed a report showing the standard and if she mastered it, but I'm not sure how up to date the GLCE's are since they just revised ours last year, I'll have to ask. The only thing not checked is upper level spelling and word meaning, which she told me she didn't do well on, she "didn't like the format".

Hi MelMi,

What an awful story, I'm so sorry. Sounds like you could have taken the school to court and wiped the floor with them. Truly atrocious!

Cooler heads prevail, obviously, I think you are smart to hold onto that 20-40k and invest it into an individual education plan for your dear daughter.

I don't know anything about that test, but our DD took the WIAT achievement test at age 7 and it really helped us gauge her level of learning. Also, if they are making you document learning you might need to have some sort of detailed assessment that clearly indicates she has mastered whatever grades she is proficient at already. You might want to did up all the specifics on that one if you haven't already.