Why are Massachusetts 8th graders not meeting civics expectations?
When Massachusetts 8th graders took their first ever Civics MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) last spring, the results were sobering: just 39 percent of students met or exceeded expectations, while 16 percent failed entirely. That is despite the fact that civics courses have been required since 2019, and the state recently invested in standards, professional development and a Harvard-partnered support program. These outcomes reflect not just student knowledge gaps but deeper structural, implementation, curricular and context issues.Based on a recent 2025 detailed report from the Boston Globe about the first civics MCAS scores, there are several interconnected reasons and challenges why most Grade 8 students are not meeting the newly established civics education expectations.
New test and learning curve in standards alignment
Since the Civics MCAS is brand new (first administered in 2025), both teachers and students are still navigating what expectations to meet. An educator quoted in the Boston Globe article noted that although the new standards are “coherent and clear,” there are too many topics to cover in depth in one year. One teacher said, “We pick and choose what we’re going to do, and hope kids can extrapolate.” This suggests that curricular overload and uncertainty about depth versus breadth are real constraints. Schools have not yet optimised pacing or prioritisation for the new standards.
Limited instructional time and competing demands
Civics is a relatively new requirement and it must compete for time in a crowded middle school schedule. Teachers report tension between covering the MCAS topics versus facilitating civics projects, current events discussions or deeper inquiry-based work. When teachers try to integrate live political events or local issues (which students often care about), they end up shifting away from the “core” content the exam emphasizes. One teacher said, “Civics is horribly relevant … what I’m teaching last period is not always the same as what I’m teaching first period.” This constant adjustment imposes the burden that teachers must balance rigorous standards coverage with responsive, contemporary civic discussion — which is no small task.
Interrupted learning and the legacy of Covid-19
The Boston Globe article points out that the Covid-19 disruptions significantly impacted instruction in civics and social studies, just as they did in math and reading. Many students missed foundational lessons and teachers lost precious classroom time to remediation in core subjects. The civics course, being newer, had less buffer or precedent to absorb those disruptions. Such interruptions compound when a subject is new as teachers and students don’t have semester-after-semester refinement or institutional memory to lean on.
Vague or overly broad standards and test design mismatch
Some teachers said that the standards and the MCAS test ask for a mix of historical content and deep structural understanding (how branches relate, philosophical foundations) in ways that are ambiguous or crowded. One teacher described the test as “a potpourri of many different topics” and questioned how to balance coverage of past and present. When standards and assessments are not tightly aligned or when they demand greater depth than class time allows, many students will struggle. If the test emphasizes analysis and relational understanding more than memorisation, that shifts the burden onto higher-order thinking, which many students have not had sustained practice building.
Teacher preparation, confidence and professional development gaps
The Boston Globe article mentions that the state has supported civics education through a “multimillion-dollar professional development effort in partnership with Harvard University” and civics showcases but such investments take time to result in classroom change. Teachers may still be adapting to new content, developing new assessment strategies and gaining confidence in guiding political discussion. Variation in teacher experience, content knowledge and comfort with civics may produce inconsistent instruction across districts.
Political polarisation, sensitivity and classroom risk
Since civics inherently touches controversial contemporary issues, some teachers feel uncertain about how deeply to engage political topics, for fear of overstepping or causing conflict. The article notes that the “relentless onslaught of major political news” imposes pressure as teachers must decide when to connect lessons and how, while ensuring all students feel safe to share. This tension can lead to self-censorship or superficial coverage, especially in more polarised communities, reducing exposure to rich discourse and debate as these are the elements that often boost civics understanding.
Lack of scaffolding and student background differences
Many students enter 8th grade with weak foundational understanding of the US government, civics vocabulary or perspective-taking skills. When new standards expect relational reasoning, for example how branches interact, students without scaffolding struggle. Since civics was only recently required, some cohorts may have had uneven prior exposure. Educators describe picking and choosing what to teach and hoping students extrapolate from what they do learn. Students from under-resourced schools or with less prior social studies support may be disproportionately disadvantaged.
The path forward
The poor performance on the first Civics MCAS is not a judgment on students’ intelligence instead, it is a signal of growing pains in rolling out a new standard under challenging conditions. The root causes are instructional time constraints, ambiguous standard/test alignment, teacher adaptation, political complexity and disrupted learning. To improve outcomes, Massachusetts (and other states experimenting with new civic assessments) should consider:
- Prioritising depth over breadth – Selecting a core subset of foundational concepts for deep mastery.
- Extending instructional time or integrating civics into other disciplines.
- Investing in robust, sustained professional development and content coaching.
- Creating supports for politically safe and student-led discourse.
- Providing scaffolding for students with weaker social studies foundations.
- Monitoring alignment between curriculum, assessment and classroom practice
With patience, iteration and resource investment, future civics assessments can reflect not only what students struggle with but what schools can systematically improve.
