Here’s how South Florida schools will handle the AP psych course and its LGBTQ lessons
After a spat between the Florida Department of Education and the College Board over gender identity and sexual orientation lessons in a college-level high school class, Miami-Dade County Public Schools will offer the Advanced Placement Psychology course this school year, Superintendent Jose Dotres told the School Board in a memo Wednesday.
Asked whether the course would be altered in any way, Miami-Dade school district spokeswoman Jackie Calzadilla said in an email: “No, all learning targets will be addressed throughout the course.”
Broward County Public Schools said Wednesday it will treat AP Psychology as an elective and parents will need to sign a document that allows their children to take the course.
“Recognizing the depth and breadth of topics covered in AP Psychology and in line with the importance of prioritizing student well-being and parental choice, we have decided to make enrollment for this elective an ‘opt-in’ process that expressly requires parental consent,” said Broward Superintendent Peter Licata.
The first day of classes in Miami-Dade Schools is Thursday, Aug. 17. The first day in Broward is Monday, Aug. 21.
The College Board, the New York City-based nonprofit that manages AP courses in the United States, announced Thursday, Aug. 3, that it would not recognize the AP Psychology course in Florida — and wouldn’t give students college credit for it — because a new state law forbids teachers from instructing about sexual orientation and gender identity, material that has been part of the course for 30 years.
The move would impact more than 25,000 students in Florida.
“We are sad ...” the statement reads at the top. “The state has said districts are free to teach AP Psychology only if it excludes any mention of these essential topics.”
The College Board said any course that censors required content cannot be labeled “AP” or “Advanced Placement.” Therefore, Florida schools wouldn’t be able to use the “AP Psychology” designation on student transcripts — news that left teachers who had taught the class for years alarmed and students who had planned to take the class for college credit upset.
Thousands of colleges and universities across the country consider AP credits for admissions, scholarships and other student-related decisions. More than 28,000 Florida students took AP Psychology in the 2022-23 academic year, according to the College Board.
After the College Board said it would not recognize the Florida AP Psych course, Florida Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz sent a letter to school superintendents the next day, Friday, Aug. 4, that said the state believed the psychology course could be taught after all.
Dotres credited that Diaz correspondence in his memo to the School Board Wednesday.
Diaz, Dotres said, wrote that “the Department [of Education] believes that AP Psychology can be taught in its entirety in a manner that is age and developmentally appropriate and the course remains listed in our course catalog.”
“Therefore, M-DCPS will continue to offer AP Psychology during the 2023-24 school year,” Dotres told the nine School Board members.
Diaz’s letter — particularly the wording “age and developmentally appropriate” — caused confusion among some districts, which had to decide quickly about whether to offer the course as the school year is about to start. School starts Thursday in Monroe and Palm Beach counties.
Florida Virtual School, an online platform for students K-12, still hadn’t decided what to do as of Wednesday afternoon.
“Under the guidance of Florida’s Department of Education, we are evaluating next steps with the College Board AP Psychology course that is offered online through our schools,” a note on its website reads. “If your child is already enrolled, more information will be communicated as soon as it is available, including any potential changes to your child’s enrollment and alternative, viable course options.”
