College Board Refuses Florida’s Request to Modify Courses
The College Board announced last year that a new AP class, African American Studies, would be introduced. The announcement was met with immediate criticism from high-powered politicians, particularly in Florida.
Earlier this year, we reported that the College Board had made several amendments to the curriculum due to the backlash. They eliminated several prominent writers on Critical Race Theory, as well as writers discussing topics such as class and sexual orientation. As expected, this move was met with counter-backlash from scholars and academics who argued that bowing to the original opponents of African American Studies set a dangerous precedent that would be exploited moving forward.
Turns out the academics and scholars were right.
On May 19, the Florida Department of Education sent a request to the College Board asking them to amend and modify the curriculum of other AP courses, including Psychology, to comply with Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay Bill” which prohibits discussion on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.
In response, the College Board did what it should have done in the first place: they rejected the request to modify their curriculum. In a letter sent to the Florida Department of Education, the College Board stated, “Please know that we will not modify our courses to accommodate restrictions on teaching essential, college-level topics. Doing so would break the fundamental promise of AP: colleges wouldn’t broadly accept that course for credit and that course wouldn’t prepare students for success in the discipline.”
The College Board went on to emphasize that AP courses are optional, and that if parents object to the material then they don’t have to allow their student to participate in the course.
It is unclear if Florida will allow the AP Psychology course to run in the upcoming school year as there is material included in the curriculum that would violate state law.
Stay tuned for more information on this story as it becomes available.
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