Never get discouraged, NADAC is more about keeping you and your dog ENcouraged!
You don't HAVE to move up to Elite, you can stay at the Open level and keep getting those Q's
Moving back to Open, is NOT a bad thing or negative in any way, shape of form. I often keep my dogs at the Novice or Open levels just to make sure we are working well as a team, and having decent communication and solid connection with your dog. The epic fails there, have always been exclusively mine.
Remember NADAC has some amazing titles and extended awards you can earn Outstanding Open Tunnelers, Superior Open Tunnellers, etc. You are still accumulating points towards potential "Points" awards.That first 1,000 point award is an amazing GOAL!!! and Guess what, you can do it in Novice, or even Intro level classes! You never even have to enter open or Elite to obtain that. How amazing is that?!?
So, your instructor can def. help you with being more efficient in what you're doing, making your timing more crisp and clear.
Best of luck!
Robert