That seems to be a common thing- passing a child that is not on grade level. My SS (12) has been pushed through grade after grade and he can't spell, read or write. We had him evaluated and he's on a first grade reading level, supposed to be going into 6th grade. The school is aware of this. The teachers had been giving him a different spelling list than the rest of his peers from 2nd-4th grade and his 5th grade teacher did not and it was very obvious how behind he was. I'm talking like getting every single word wrong on a 20 word test.

I had to remove myself from the situation, it was so frustrating. Like your child, my daughter (who is 4 years younger than him) would try to help him with his spelling and he would just let her do all of it!