College Board updates AP African American Studies framework after DeSantis sparks national outrage
Rachel Schilke
The College Board updated its framework for the AP African American Studies course, a hot-button topic that made national headlines after the administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis blocked the course from being introduced into high school curriculum.
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.”
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Both the original outline and the letter were obtained by the Washington Examiner, but the pilot framework and newly released framework have not been made public, making it difficult to determine what changes have been made.
“No states or districts have seen the official framework that is released, much less provided feedback on it,” the College Board said in a statement on Wednesday. “This course has been shaped only by the input of experts and long-standing AP principles and practices.”
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.”
“As 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.”
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.”
However, the National Black Justice Coalition criticized the College Board’s “capitulation to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 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, executive director of the coalition said. “You cannot teach Black history while erasing members of our community and the contributions made to our community and this country.”
The Washington Examiner did not immediately receive comment from the College Board on the timeline of the framework’s release to states and the public.
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.
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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.”