DeSantis had no influence on new AP African American studies course, College Board says
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
The College Board released the updated curriculum for its AP African American Studies course Dec. 6, after months of conflict with Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Education over what it should include.
The final curriculum largely coincides with the February iteration in its organization and major themes. The College Board has denied that DeSantis’ complaints caused the omission or deemphasis of some controversial topics, like the Black Lives Matter movement and reparations.
“We certainly didn’t modify the framework in February, or this operational final framework that we released last week, in response to any pressure from any state,” College Board spokeswoman Holly Stepp told the Deseret News.
Related
The College Board made the full, 286-page curriculum available online, along with a side-by-side comparison of the topics and sources included in the February and December versions.
The interdisciplinary course covers a range of topics dealing with Black history and culture within the U.S. After the course was piloted across the country in fall 2022, it faced a backlash from some on the political right — including from DeSantis, who said the course had a “political agenda” and said it “lacks educational value.”
In Florida, DeSantis signed the Stop the WOKE Act in late 2021, which altered how public school teachers could discuss topics like race and ethnicity in their classrooms. In subsequent months, over two dozen states passed measures against critical race theory.
In February, the College Board released an updated framework, incorporating feedback from high school teachers and subject experts. The new framework included a shortened list of required readings and the elimination of some topics.
Topics like Black Lives Matter, incarceration and reparations for the descendants of African slaves were deemphasized. The new required reading list no longer included Black writers bell hooks and Ta-Nehisi Coates.
The Florida Department of Education took credit for the changes, which the College Board denied.
At the center of the course’s rollout was Trevor Packer, the College Board’s senior vice president over AP courses, who grew up in Provo, Utah, and attended Brigham Young University. Packer also denied that DeSantis, who is running for 2024 GOP presidential nomination, or other political actors influenced the new course curriculum.
“So it’s been interesting to see all sides taking credit for the work and declaring victory — some declaring that it represents the influence of conservative leaders, others declaring that it represents a denunciation of such influence by adding or restoring topics especially valued by academics in the discipline,” Packer said.
Last week, after 10 months of gathering feedback, the College Board released a final version of the curriculum, which will be used when the course finishes its pilot stage and is available to schools nationwide in the fall of 2024.
A major change is the introduction of a “Further Explorations” week, which is not included in any other AP curriculum. Teachers are given five days to cover material of their choice that will not be covered on the final exam. The curriculum provides ideas for potential topics, many of which stirred controversy in the curriculum’s early iterations, including the Black Lives Matter movement, reparations and prison reform.
Making these topics optional was the result of attempting to reflect university-level African American studies courses. While students were interested in these topics, Stepp said, they weren’t as frequently taught at the university level.
“The required content really is built on what we heard from higher education faculty as the most important concepts to cover,” Stepp said. “The class can’t cover everything.”
For now, this version of the curriculum is here to stay. Advanced Placement courses are updated every fight to eight years, to ensure they are in line with university expectations.
“This is the framework that we’ll roll out next fall,” Stepp said. “It will certainly be several years before it gets an update.”
