The College Board said it should have denounced the DeSantis administration’s comments that AP African American Studies “lacks educational value” sooner and reemphasized that there is still work to be done on the course’s outline.
The academic organization said claims that Florida and the College Board were in “frequent dialogue” about the course is a “false and politically motivated charge.” The College Board said the only interactions the organization had with the state included a rejection letter of the course and phone calls with the state Department of Education that were “absent of substance.”
COLLEGE BOARD UPDATES AP AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES FRAMEWORK AFTER DESANTIS SPARKS NATIONAL OUTRAGE
The DeSantis administration’s decision to block the course from high school curriculum sparked outrage among activists, students, and state lawmakers. The administration could face a lawsuit from three AP honors students, represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump if he does not negotiate on introducing the course into Florida’s high school curriculum.
“In the discussion, they did not offer feedback but instead asked vague, uninformed questions like, ‘What does the word ‘intersectionality’ mean?’ and ‘Does the course promote Black Panther thinking?'” the College Board said in a long statement on Saturday. “FDOE did not bring any African American Studies scholars or teachers to their call with us, despite the presence in their state of so many renowned experts in this discipline.”
This is the latest statement in a tense war between the framework, which the College Board has been working on for close to a decade with the input of over 300 professors and scholars nationwide, and states seeking to ban the course. The DeSantis administration said the course was violating the state’s anti- “woke” laws, of which the governor saw several portions of his Stop WOKE Act scrapped.
The College Board released the official framework of AP African American Studies on Feb. 1, with several Black scholars associated with topics such as critical race theory removed from the curriculum. Terms such as “systemic marginalization” and “intersectionality” were removed, as well.
The organization came under fire from activist groups, such as the National Black Justice Coalition, and Democratic lawmakers for catering to the DeSantis administration.
However, the academic organization said Florida cannot and should not take credit for the changes. It argued that the revisions were completed by Dec. 22, “weeks before Florida’s objections were shared.”
Florida Department of Education released a letter this past week to show it initially questioned if the course was legal under state law in July. On Jan. 12, the Department of Education sent a letter alerting the College Board that it would not include the course in its high schools.
The College Board said the recently-released letter was nothing more than a PR stunt with “inflated rhetoric and posturing.”
“We have made the mistake of treating FDOE with the courtesy we always accord to an education agency, but they have instead exploited this courtesy for their political agenda,” the College Board wrote. “The notion that we needed Florida to enlighten us that these terms are politicized in several states is ridiculous. We took a hard look at these terms because they often are misunderstood, misrepresented, and co-opted as political weapons.”
The College Board added in its statement that it should have made clear that contemporary events such the Black Lives Matter movement were always intended to be optional and were so in the pilot course.
The official framework is still “only the outline of the course,” with more needed to populate the course with scholarly articles, video lectures, and other materials.
“This error triggered a conversation about erasing or eliminating Black thinkers. The vitriol aimed at these scholars is repulsive and must stop,” the College Board wrote.
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“We deeply regret not immediately denouncing the Florida Department of Education’s slander, magnified by the DeSantis administration’s subsequent comments, that African American Studies’ lacks educational value,'” the College Board continued. “Our failure to raise our voice betrayed Black scholars everywhere and those who have long toiled to build this remarkable field.”
The DeSantis administration is reviewing the AP course framework, spokespeople previously told the Washington Examiner.
