iPad brightness slider can go higher, how can we set it to stay there?

Here is what I THINK you are experiencing. When you pull up the control center from the bottom, iOS automatically dims the display so that the control center stands out better when your messing with those settings. As you pull the slider to the right to brighten your screen, what you see is a demo of how bright that actually is going to be... like a preview. Once you let go of the slider the preview stops and the screen dims down so you can see control center better again. The sun icons are just telling you that yes, indeed you can't pull the slider any further to the right. It's just a little notification of sorts to tell you you have it to the max already. Once you let go of course you don't need this "notification" any more. Now the screen will still be dim in this state because you still have notification center pulled up. As soon as you dismiss control center, the screen will then be the brightness level that you had choosen as the dimmed state goes away because control center is no longer in view and doesn't need to stand out.

Let me know if this is what your experiencing and if this ansewers your question. I did indeed just test this on both my iphone 6+ and my iPad Air borth running the latest version of iOS 8.

Instead of bringing up the control panel from the bottom try going to Settings > Display & Brightness. Turn Auto-Brightness OFF and then slide the brightness all the way to the right. Reboot your iPad and see if it stays that way.

Hey there! Your very welcome! Glad I was able to help! No need to face palm lol. iOS is a different beast compared to OS X. They really don't make it apparent that that's what's going on when you play with that slider. My experience of the Apple world is almost completly on all the iOS versions. If I ever get into the OS X side of things you can bet I'll be on here with all kinds of crazy questions myself, lol. So really, no worries, just glad I could help! Feel free to ask me any other questions when it comes to iPads iPhones or iPods, I'd be glad to help the best that I can! With some time you'll be a pro at iOS I Promise! Also, Apple does have a GREAT iBook you can download for free to your iPad for iOS 8.4 that explains how everything works in detail. It's a great resource to have!

NO that's not what's happening. And I'll tell you why I know that. When I pulled a slider all the way to the right the sun icon on the right lights up but you can also still see my background and get brightened up as well. as you slide the slider back-and-forth the background will light up or dim depending on which way you push the slider however when you push it all the way to the right and then let go the screen dims to dark to see anything in the sunlight.

Do you have auto-brightness turned on?

I would assume then that is by design to save the screen and battery.