At Pine View Elementary School in Cumberland County, Silas Willis had been nothing short of a good student.

This past year, Willis, who was in the third grade, had straight As every quarter of the year, with the exception of two 89′s in Language Arts.

While an 89% is far from a bad score, it’s the very subject that’s not threatening him from advancing to the 4th grade after he received a failing TCAP result in the ELA section.

“I do know that he had to have a score of at least a 32, and he was not close to that,” said his mom, Kayla Willis.

Willis said she spoke to her son immediately after receiving the news he had failed the exam. Although he came into the test confident he would pass, he left second-guessing himself.

“And that was his first question: am I stupid, or what did I do wrong? And he shouldn’t have to ask that,” said Willis.

Willis said that Silas told her that some of the questions were hard to understand and that he was sometimes confused about what was asked of him.

Frustrated with the process and confused about how a child goes from near-perfect grades to possibly repeating the 3rd grade, Willis questions if the testing is the best option.

“If this is what we’re doing to kids, are we setting them up for anxiety or depression with these tests, and it’s not worth it to me, it’s not worth it at the expense for a child,” said Willis.

Silas retook the TCAP Wednesday, and he got the results back Friday.

He didn’t pass.

That means he and his mother now face an appeal process to make sure a nearly perfect student will get to move on to the next grade.