Some students are getting restless at the head of the class

(Illustration by LA Johnson/NPR)
They read a book quietly under their desks, pester the teacher for extra credit, or, perhaps, they simply check out and act up.
Every classroom has a few overachievers who perform above their grade level and don’t feel challenged by the status quo. A new report suggests they are surprisingly common — in some cases, nearly half of all students in a given grade.
“The start of this was a little embarrassing,” says Matthew Makel, who researche