I have a Christian friend who pulled her son out of school this year because of all the bad influences. He's been having trouble in math, so I told her I'd test him (ADAM K-7) to see if perhaps he was working at the wrong level. He's always made A's & B's in school, so she was surprised to find that he's working at a 3rd-4th grade level. He's in 6th, and she thought he was one of the smarter kids in his class, too. Either she's completely blind, and the teachers never contacted her about any problems, or the school wasn't teaching him properly (which would be my guess, since he was making A's & B's! :roll: )
My nephew went through something similar. He was top of his class, received high praises from the teacher, and his grades were great across the board. When it came time to take the exit exam, he failed twice. The schools praises and grades didn't add to what the exam revealed. I do not think it was my nephews fault. My sister and nephew were lulled into a false security. They believed that the system knew what was best. :/
I don't trust testing like that to see what level a child is working at in math. We did a lot of tests and placement tests when we started homeschooling and it all told me to put my kids back several grades even though they had been making A's and B's. They were having difficulty with certain topics not everything from those grade levels. At that point, I did not understand that tests such as these will have several questions at different grade levels and if your child misses so many of them the formula they use to pinpoint grade level will not be accurate if say your 6th grade child really doesn't get fractions or decimals but they can add, subtract, multiply, divide and understand pre-algebra concepts just fine. I would not base it off one test either. Take several tests. Look at what areas the child did poorly on to determine where remediation is necessary. I would not suggest going back 3-4 grades in math. My children all had difficulty in math computation b/c rote memorization was not encouraged in public school. However, they were grade levels ahead in concepts and applications. When I quit trying to make them fit these tests and I started just getting math at their proper grade level and working on where they struggled they flourished. Now I have an 8th grader taking Algebra 1 and a 7th grader taking pre-algebra. They both are doing well. If I would have continued down our path of these tests and going by the results on these tests, then they would still be doing 5th grade basic math. They still do not score well on certain math sections. My 8th grader who is in all high school courses and was placed in Algebra based off her grades from last year....tested below average in math b/c she bombed the geometry portion of the scantron. All the rest of her scores were in advanced/gifted range. The one really grade levels below score brought her entire math scantron score down to below average for her grade level. It was very eye opening to realize here I have a gifted child testing gifted in everything but bombing one math section on the test and it brings her down 2 grade levels according to the test.
Your story sounds a lot like mine. Last year when I pulled my then 6th grader out of school I tested him with several different placement tests and I found he was at a 3rd grade level in math and 4-5th grade in most other subjects. I knew that he was probably at that level since he couldn't EVER grasp any of his homework, even though he was getting straight A's. So, this year I placed him mostly in 6/7th grade stuff, but math is his weak area so I placed him in 3rd grade math and he although he struggled in the beginning he now got through it so fast that next week we are starting him on 4th grade math. My plan is to have him through at least 5th grade math (hopefully 6th too) by the end of this school year. I think he just needs more review to really grasp it. Next year he will be doing 6th (if we didn't get to it this year) through 8th grade math. It's amazing what ps will give A's for. I don't' give grades to my younger kids, but my 2 oldest don't get A's unless they grasp the concept. I can tell when they grasp a concept because when I ask them about it randomly they can give me answers or tell me how to get the answer.
I definitely trust the accuracy of ADAM K-7, though. I've been testing my kids annually, and my 8 year old tested better than this kid did. It aligns the test to Texas standards, so when I went back to ask him things he should've known (in case he's just "not a good tester"), he didn't know them. He was completely clueless. Sure, it may have been a little off, but even if it were a little off, he's still at least a year behind.
