Study: Students not challenged in school

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WASHINGTON, July 10 (UPI) -- Surveys suggest that U.S. students are not being challenged in school, especially in math and science, a report released Tuesday said.

"Do Schools Challenge Our Students? What Student Surveys Tell Us About the State of Education in the United States" was based on student questionnaires from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The report was prepared by two researchers with the Center for American Progress.

The authors found that 37 percent of fourth graders said math homework is too easy, more than one-third of high school seniors reported doing little writing about the reading they do for class and 72 percent of eighth-graders said they were not being taught about engineering and technology.

While many students say class is too easy, others are not being helped by teachers, the authors said.

"Too many students don't understand their teacher's questions and report that they are not learning during class," the report said. "Nationwide, less than two-thirds of middle school math students report that they feel like they are always or almost always learning in math class."