Article: It's tough being 9: Educators puzzle over why some students slump in fourth grade.

Byline: Steve Crump

Mar. 11--TWIN FALLS -- Eric Cartman and his "South Park" buddies hated fourth grade so much that they commissioned the science geeks in their class to build a time machine so they could go back to third grade.

Their teacher went, too.

So what's so bad about being 9 years old? Educators around the country are wondering.

"The fourth-grade slump," as Newsweek magazine calls it, can strike students between the second and fifth grades. The trend is marked by declining interest in reading and a gradual disengagement from school.

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, kids' reading scores ...

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