The announcement made on Thursday by the College Board indicated that Advanced Placement Psychology, a highly popular A.P. course, will no longer be offered by Florida school districts. This decision marks the most recent clash in an ongoing dispute between the College Board and the Florida Department of Education regarding the curriculum's treatment of topics related to race, gender, and sexual orientation.
The College Board, a non-profit organization responsible for overseeing advanced placement courses and the SAT, has withdrawn its support for A.P. Psychology in Florida. The reason behind this move is the state's demand to eliminate a longstanding section covering gender and sexual orientation in the course.
In a statement, the College Board expressed, "The Florida Department of Education has essentially prohibited A.P. Psychology in the state." In response, the Department of Education countered, accusing the College Board of "playing games with Florida students" merely one week before the start of the school year. The department clarified, "The course hasn't been 'banned'; it remains listed in Florida's Course Code Directory for the 2023-24 school year. We urge the College Board to refrain from playing games with Florida students and to continue offering the course, allowing teachers to operate as usual."
Under an expanded Florida rule, instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation is now generally restricted through 12th grade. The Florida Department of Education had requested that the College Board and other providers of advanced, college-level courses review their offerings for potential violations.
Nevertheless, the College Board has firmly stated that it will not alter its content and believes that any course lacking discussions on gender and sexual orientation should not carry the label of "advanced placement." They assert, "To clarify, any A.P. Psychology course taught in Florida will either violate Florida law or college requirements."
This conflict between the College Board, a influential non-profit organization, and the administration of Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, began earlier this year when the DeSantis administration rejected the College Board's new African American studies course. The curriculum for this course included topics such as "queer studies," reparations, and the Black Lives Matter movement, which the administration objected to, citing a state law that restricts the teaching of racism and other historical aspects in public schools.
This latest dispute over A.P. Psychology represents a shift from a new course that was in the feedback and pilot phase to a well-established academic subject. A.P. Psychology has been in existence for three decades, consistently including a section on gender and sexual orientation within its framework since its inception. This section is part of the unit on developmental psychology, covering stages from childhood through adolescence to older adulthood, addressing themes such as "moral development" and gender and sexual orientation.
The American Psychological Association has endorsed the inclusion of gender identity and sexual orientation as essential components of the study of human development. Arthur C. Evans Jr., the organization's CEO, remarked, "An advanced placement course that disregards decades of research on sexual orientation and gender identity would deprive students of knowledge crucial for their academic success in high school and beyond."
In June, when the College Board declined to modify its course, it stated that it had "learned from our mistakes" regarding the rollout of the A.P. African American Studies course, emphasizing the importance of clarity from the beginning.
These recent developments have left school districts in a state of uncertainty just days before the school year is set to commence for some districts. Last year, over 28,000 students in Florida enrolled in the A.P. Psychology course, which can potentially lead to college credit for those who perform well on the end-of-course exam.
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