From eSchool News, July 13, 2012, by Jeff Festa — Millions of kids simply don’t find school very challenging, a new analysis of federal survey data suggests. The report could spark a debate about whether new academic standards being piloted nationwide might make a difference.

The findings, released July 10 from the Center for American Progress, a Washington, D.C., think tank that champions “progressive ideas,” analyze three years of questionnaires from the Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress, a national test given each year.

Among the findings:

• • 37 percent of fourth-graders say their math work is “often” or “always” too easy;
• • 57 percent of eighth-graders say their history work is “often” or “always” too easy;
• • 39 percent of 12th-graders say they rarely write about what they read in class.

The data suggest that many kids simply aren’t pushed academically: Only one in five eighth-graders read more than 20 pages a day, either in school or for homework. Most report that they read far less.

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