Florida clashed with the College Board this week over gender and sexuality content in the Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology course, which some school districts are worried violates Florida’s new school content restrictions.
The College Board, which runs 40 AP courses as well as the SAT, said in a statement on Thursday that it will not change its AP courses for Florida.
“We will not modify our courses to accommodate restrictions on teaching essential, college-level topics. Doing so would break the fundament promise of AP,” the organization’s statement said.
Gender and sexuality “must remain a required topic, just as it has been in Florida for many years,” the College Board said, adding that it is “heartbroken” at the possibility Florida students might not be able to take AP Psychology due to Florida’s restrictions. The College Board also said it will not sign an “assurance document” that Florida’s Department of Education is developing for them regarding the AP courses.
In April, Florida’s education department restricted how gender, sexuality, and racial topics can be taught in kindergarten through 12th grade. Previously, Florida had only banned these topics through third grade.
The AP Psychology unit on “gender and sexual orientation” asks students to “describe how sex and gender influence socialization and other aspects of development.”
This has raised questions among some Florida school districts, the College Board said.
Last month, the Florida Department of Education asked the College Board to make certain that all AP courses comply with Florida’s new legal standards.
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“We implore you to immediately conduct a thorough review of all College Board courses,” Florida’s education department wrote in a May 19 letter.
In response to the College Board’s decision Thursday not to modify courses, an education department spokesperson told the Orlando Sentinel, “College Board is responsible for ensuring that their submitted materials comply with Florida law.”
“It is worth noting that College Board does not maintain a reliable position and is susceptible to outside influence by the mainstream media and political activists,” the spokesperson said.
The College Board previously clashed with Florida over its new AP African American course.
In January, the Florida education department rejected the AP African American course, saying it violates Florida law and “significantly lacks educational value.” The department said the College Board may “come back to the table with lawful, historically accurate content.”
The College Board then announced changes to the AP African American course in February that removed or de-emphasized the topics Florida found problematic. This prompted critics to accuse the organization of giving in to Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Then in April, the College Board said it would make more changes to the course that “will ensure that those students who do take this course will get the most holistic possible introduction to African American Studies.”
“We have learned from our mistakes in the recent rollout of AP African American Studies and know that we must be clear from the outset where we stand,” the College Board said in its statement Thursday.
Florida has not yet made an announcement about whether it will stop offering any AP courses due to the College Board’s decision not to modify them.
More than 28,000 Florida students enrolled in the popular AP Psychology course during this past school year, according to the New York Times.