The College Board Says A.P. Psychology Is ‘Effectively Banned’ in Florida

This blog originally appeared at The New York Times.

The nonprofit said it would not remove a section on gender and sexual orientation, as Florida had requested, and advised districts not to offer the course.

The College Board announced on Thursday that Florida school districts should no longer offer Advanced Placement Psychology, one of the most popular A.P. courses, the latest skirmish in its battle with the state’s Department of Education over how to teach race, gender and sexual orientation.

The College Board, the nonprofit that oversees advanced placement courses and the SAT, revoked its support for A.P. Psychology in Florida, saying it would not abide by the state’s demand to remove a longstanding section on gender and sexual orientation.

“The Florida Department of Education has effectively banned A.P. Psychology in the state,” the College Board said in a statement.

The Department of Education fired back, accusing the College Board of “playing games with Florida students” one week before school starts.

“The Department didn’t ‘ban’ the course,” the department said in a statement. “The course remains listed in Florida’s Course Code Directory for the 2023-24 school year. We encourage the College Board to stop playing games with Florida students and continue to offer the course and allow teachers to operate accordingly.”

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Under an expanded Florida rule, instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation is now restricted in most cases through the 12th grade. The Florida Department of Education had asked the College Board and other providers of advanced, college-level courses to search their offerings for potential violations.

But the College Board said that it would not modify its content, and that any course that did not address gender and sexual orientation should not be labeled “advanced placement.”

“To be clear, any A.P. Psychology course taught in Florida will violate either Florida law or college requirements,” the College Board said.

The College Board, a powerful nonprofit, has been waging war with the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, since earlier this year when his administration rejected the College Board’s new African American studies course. The curriculum included topics such as “queer studies,” reparations and the Black Lives Matter movement, and the administration objected, citing a state law limiting how racism and other aspects of history are taught in public schools.

click here to see full blog: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/03/us/florida-ap-psychology-courses.html