College Board Rejects Changes in Florida AP Psychology Course
The “In the States” feature by Kaitlyn Brennan is a weekly update to keep members informed on state-level activities impacting the education and educator preparation community.
The College Board is rejecting a proposed change by the Florida Department of Education (DOE) to a high school Advanced Placement (AP) psychology course. Under the proposal, the AP psychology course would modify or completely remove lessons on gender and sexual orientation.
In a letter to the Florida Department of Education, the Board said in part:
“Please know that we will not modify our courses to accommodate restrictions on teaching essential, college-level topics … Doing so would break the fundamental promise of AP: colleges wouldn’t broadly accept that course for credit and that course wouldn’t prepare students for success in the discipline.”
The request from the Florida DOE came back in May and pressed the College Board to review all of its courses to determine if any “need modification to ensure compliance” with Florida laws and regulations. “Some courses may contain content or topics prohibited by State Board of Education rule and Florida law,”
For additional context, earlier this spring, the Florida Board of Education expanded restrictions on teaching students about sexual orientation or gender identify in all K-12 public schools across the state.
It is unclear whether Florida will now block the AP psychology course from being offered in K-12 public schools across the state.
Tags: state policy
