When Black youth appear in public conversations about civics, it’s usually in the context of disparities: whether it’s lower scores on the NAEP Civics assessment, underfunded schools or limited access to high-quality civic education.

These are real, urgent issues. But they are only half the story.

Black youth are frequently among the most civically engaged young people in the country, yet they are too often absent from conversations about civic excellence.

While it is true that only about 10 percent of Black eighth graders scored at or above proficiency on the last NAEP Civics assessment, it isn’t because they lack civic values or leadership potential.

It’s because they often attend schools where civics has been deprioritized, crowded out by preparation for high-stakes testing in other subjects or flattened into textbook worksheets that erase the very histories and voices the students live and breathe.

As we approach the 250th year of America’s national origin story, there’s another truth that we need to recognize: Black youth do engage in civic action. They protest. They organize. They show up at town halls, write petitions, push for change and go with their parents to vote at higher rates than their peers.

Black teens were more likely than their peersto engage in nearly every form of civic action measured, according to the State of Young People 2024 Research Report.

And they’re not just participating — they believe in their ability to make change. Forty-two percent of Black youth say they believe there are ways they “can have a say in what the government does,” compared with only 29 percent of other young people, the report found.

This paradox — high civic engagement despite limited civic learning — demands our attention. It is a story of both brilliance and neglect.

On one hand, it shows that Black youth are inheritors and innovators of a long tradition of civic activism, rooted in resilience, community and justice. On the other hand, it reveals how our education system continues to under-deliver for the very students most committed to improving their communities and our democracy.

Read the full article about the civic engagement of Black youth by Rashid Duroseau and Andrew Wilkes at The Hechinger Report.