Many students in California don’t find school challenging, believe lessons are too easy and say they don’t receive enough homework, according to a study released Tuesday.

In the report from the Washington, D.C. think-tank Center for American Progress, 42 percent of fourth-graders surveyed in the Golden State said that “often” or “always” their math work is too easy. About 32 percent of eighth-graders surveyed “often” or “always” believe their math lessons are too easy.

The report “Do Our Schools Challenge Students?” analyzed three years of questionnaires from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, a set of national tests given each year in math, English and science.

Nationally, 37 percent of fourth-graders surveyed said that “often” or “always” their math work is too easy, while 39 percent of eighth-graders “often” or “always” believe their math lessons are too easy.

More than 300,000 students nationally were surveyed as part of the NAEP administration. In California, about 20,000 students from grades four, eight and 12 participated. It’s unclear how many participated in Orange County, although fewer than 100 students locally typically take NAEP tests each year.

These same tests have shown that California students lag behind peers nationally, with students in the state ranking near the bottom in science, reading and math scores on the most recent NAEP tests.

Here are some other key findings from Tuesday’s report for California students:

• 39 percent of 12th-graders said they rarely write about what they read in class.

• 52 percent of eighth-graders read fewer than 10 pages daily in school and for homework

• 78 percent of eighth-graders said they are not taught about engineering and technology

The report’s authors suggest the data shows many students simply aren’t pushed academically.

“You might think the nation’s teenagers are drowning in schoolwork. But when we recently examined a federal survey of students in public schools around the country, we found the opposite – many students said they were not being challenged,” said report coauthor Ulrich Boser.

The report also shows the need for educators to continue to push for higher, more challenging national standards – expecting more of teachers, parents and schools, he said. The report also calls for a push to improve teacher evaluation systems to give educators more feedback.

Contact the writer: 714-704-3773 or fleal@ocregister.com