The findings, out today from the Center for American Progress, a
Washington 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% of
fourth-graders say their math work is "often" or "always" too
easy; •57% of eighth-graders say their history work is "often"
or "always" too easy; •39% of 12th-graders say they rarely write
about what they read in class. Ulrich Boser, a senior fellow at
the center who co-wrote the report, said the data challenge the
"school-as-pressure-cooker" image found in recent movies such
asRace to Nowhere. Although those kids certainly exist at one
end of the academic spectrum, Boser said, "the broad swath of
American students are not as engaged as much in their
schoolwork." Robert Pondiscio of the Core Knowledge Foundation,
a Virginia non-profit that pushes for more rigorous academics,
says the pressure-cooker environment