The College Board, which is the organization responsible for Advanced Placement (AP) courses available nationwide to high school students, has released a detailed statement rebutting a series of claims made by officials in Florida about an African American Studies course and regarding the state’s communications over — and supposed role in shaping — the course.
In short, the College Board explained that changes made to the course were actually much less sweeping, particularly in the way Florida officials described, than the idea some have tried to push, and the organization also comprehensively shut down the notion pushed by Florida education leadership that the state had a substantial role in the organization’s process of developing its course updates. One example the College Board cited is particularly embarrassing for Florida. On a call, someone from the Florida Department of Education asked for a basic definition of the term “intersectionality,” which they could look up on Google, and inquired whether the AP course, as developed, promoted so-called “Black Panther thinking,” referring to the political movement. The idea that the College Board would be explicitly — or even in any remotely reasonable estimation implicitly — promoting the ideology of the Black Panther Party to students is objectively ridiculous.
The College Board also had general comments about the situation. “We deeply regret not immediately denouncing the Florida Department of Education’s slander, magnified by the DeSantis administration’s subsequent comments, that African American Studies “lacks educational value,”” the organization said. “Our failure to raise our voice betrayed Black scholars everywhere and those who have long toiled to build this remarkable field.” In another piece of the organization’s explanation, they explained how they actually expanded the opportunity for students to examine present-day political developments and movements. Three weeks “are now dedicated to a research project of the student’s choice, which counts as 20% of the student’s AP Exam score for college credit,” they said. “We encourage students to focus their projects on contemporary issues and debates to ensure their application of knowledge to the present.”
“Florida invited us to call them if we had any questions,” the College Board also said. “We made those calls, as we would to any state that says they have unstated concerns about an AP course. These phone calls with FDOE were absent of substance, despite the audacious claims of influence FDOE is now making.” FDOE refers to the Florida Department of Education. “We have made the mistake of treating FDOE with the courtesy we always accord to an education agency, but they have instead exploited this courtesy for their political agenda,” the organization frustratedly added. From there, the specifics go on, including with the Florida government’s thanks to the College Board for eliminating 19 specific topics from the disputed course — “none of which they ever asked us to remove, and most of which remain in the official framework.”
