School is “too easy,” according to many students concludes a Center for American Progress analysis. Many students aren’t challenged in school and aren’t working very hard, conclude Ulrich Boser and Lindsay Rosenthal, who analyzed federal education surveys.
Some 37 percent of fourth-graders, nearly one-third of eighth-graders and 21 percent of 12th-graders say their math work is often or always too easy. Just under half of 12-grade students say they are always or almost always learning in math class.
Civics and history work is easier: More than half of eighth-grade and high school students say their civics and history work is often or always too easy.
For most students, school is not a “pressure cooker,” Boser, a senior fellow at the center, told USA Today.
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.
“It’s fairly safe to say that potentially high-achieving kids are probably not as challenged as they could be or ought to be,” Boser said.
Almost a third of eighth-grade students report reading less than five pages a day.
The report recommends raising expectations and standards.
Here’s an interactive map of the states.