The College Board updated its framework for its Advanced Placement
African American
Studies course, a hot-button topic that made national headlines after the administration of Gov.
Ron DeSantis
(R-FL) blocked the course from being introduced into
high school
curriculums.
The Florida Department of Education had received the initial course outline and
sent a letter
to the College Board, stating that the course “lacks educational value” and would consider reopening discussions should the framework show it “incorporates historically accurate content.” Both the original outline and the letter were obtained by the Washington Examiner.
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The College Board originally said that no states or districts had received the new framework in the statement announcing its release. However, the framework is now public.
Reviews of both the old and new frameworks indicate that Black scholars and writers associated with critical race theory, and those who specialize in black queer studies and black feminism, have been removed from the curriculum. Topics like Black Lives Matter are optional, as well, but black conservatism has been added as a potential topic.
Bryan Griffin, press secretary for DeSantis, told the Washington Examiner that the Department of Education is reviewing the framework “for corrections and compliance with Florida law.”
DeSantis has clarified that he did not object to teaching black history, but he wanted to do so in a “classical” sense.
Aspects of the course that raised questions included lesson plans on topics such as “Black Queer Studies,” “‘postracial’ racism and colorblindness,” and support for slavery reparations, including a Democratic Party congressional proposal to establish a committee to study reparations. The “Afrofuturism” section would have students watch Black Panther from Marvel Studios to study “the cultural aesthetics and practices of Afrofuturism.”
âAs submitted, the course is a vehicle for a political agenda and leaves large, ambiguous gaps that can be filled with additional ideological material, which we will not allow,” Griffin previously stated. “As Gov. DeSantis has stated, our classrooms will be a place for education, not indoctrination.â
The College Board’s
official statement
said that the new framework is different than the pilot in “three important respects.” New topics were added despite an overall “reduction in the breadth of the course.”
The official coursework will also only require analysis of primary sources, listed as “core historical, literary, and artistic works.” While they will not be required, schools may add in their own secondary sources if they choose to do so.
Finally, the course will include a project at the end that will be incorporated into their AP Exam score.
“Students pursue their own interests and choose their topic; they can return to areas they studied earlier in the course or address contemporary topics that are not part of the required course,” the College Board said.
College Board CEO David Coleman called the course “an unflinching encounter with the facts and evidence of African American history and culture.”
“No one is excluded from this course: the Black artists and inventors whose achievements have come to light; the Black women and men, including gay Americans, who played pivotal roles in the civil rights movement; and people of faith from all backgrounds who contributed to the antislavery and civil rights causes,” Coleman said. “Everyone is seen.â
However, the National Black Justice Coalition criticized the College Board’s “capitulation to Gov. Ron DeSantisâ extremist anti-Black demands, censoring Black LGBTQ+ content” in a statement released on Wednesday.
The coalition accused the College Board of removing topics on “critical race theory, Black Lives Matter, Black feminism, and the Black LGBTQ+/Same-Gender Loving (LGBTQ+/SGL) experience from the curricula.”
“To wake up on the first day of Black History Month to news of white men in positions of privilege horse trading essential and inextricably linked parts of Black History, which is American history, is infuriating,” said David J. Johns, the executive director of the coalition. “You cannot teach Black history while erasing members of our community and the contributions made to our community and this country.”
However, Coleman
told
the New York Times that these changes did not result from the College Board bowing to political pressure.
“At the College Board, we can’t look to statements of political leaders,” he said, adding that the changes came from the input from professors and “longstanding AP principles.”
DeSantis’s administration might
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.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The governor’s decision sparked outrage among activists and state lawmakers, who referred to DeSantis’s decision as censorship of education.
Johns said that DeSantis’s objections and the College Board’s changes to the course “has nothing to do with what is best for our students.”
