{"id":8974,"date":"2023-08-10T18:46:15","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T18:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/leadership\/what-floridas-dispute-over-ap-psychology-tells-us-about-higher-eds-next-battleground\/"},"modified":"2023-08-10T18:46:16","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T18:46:16","slug":"what-floridas-dispute-over-ap-psychology-tells-us-about-higher-eds-next-battleground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=8974","title":{"rendered":"What Florida\u2019s Dispute Over AP Psychology Tells Us About Higher Ed\u2019s Next Battleground"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Last week, the Florida legislature \u201ceffectively banned\u201d AP Psychology in the state\u2019s public schools after the college Board rebuffed the state government\u2019s request to re-evaluate the course\u2019s section on gender and sexuality. The move came as teachers, administrators, and independent educational organizations struggle to comply with House Bill 1557\u2014known as the Parental Rights in Education Act\u2014which limits how and at what age schools may educate students on issues pertaining to sexual orientation or gender identity. Originally introduced in 2022, Governor Ron DeSantis expanded the bill in July, further limiting, amongst other topics, discussions of reproductive health in middle and high school classrooms.<\/p>\n

The move to alter or eliminate AP Psychology from state schools\u2019 course catalogs would have prevented thousands of students from enrolling in one of the College Board\u2019s most popular courses, and was met with widespread backlash.<\/p>\n

Justifying their decision not to alter the curriculum at the state government\u2019s behest, the College Board responded to the state\u2019s sweeping measures in a press release, noting: \u201cThe American Psychological Association recently reaffirmed that any course that excludes these topics would violate their guidelines and should not be considered for college credit.\u201d On this basis, they stated: \u201cwe cannot modify AP Psychology in response to regulations that would censor college-level standards for credit, placement, and career readiness.\u201d The organization also noted that the topics concerning gender and sexual orientation contained in the curriculum are not a new addition and have been included for over three decades.<\/p>\n

However, despite skirmishes between the state and the College Board over the AP Psychology curriculum\u2014following on the heels of another high-profile clash over AP African American Studies\u2014the Florida Education Commissioner has indicated that the state will not ban the course from public schools\u2019 curricular offerings. On August 3rd, Commissioner Manny Diaz wrote a letter<\/a> to superintendents stating that: \u201cthe Department of Education is not discouraging districts from teaching AP Psychology. In fact, the Department believes that AP Psychology can be taught in a manner that is age and developmentally appropriate and the course remains listed in our course catalog.\u201d<\/p>\n

While these legislative scuffles may appear to be limited to the state of Florida for the time being, the last few years have seen state-specific education legislation spill over onto the national stage in significant ways\u2014most notably, in debates over race-conscious admissions, DEI initiatives, and classroom instruction on racial issues. On many of these issues, Florida was a trailblazer of conservative educational policy for Republicans in other state legislatures and at the federal level. Indeed, Governor DeSantis has self-styled the state as \u201cfreedom\u2019s vanguard,\u201d citing amongst other policies HB 1557\u2019s aim to \u201cprovide parents with the right to review the curriculum used in their children\u2019s schools\u201d and \u201cwith recourse so that state standards are enforced, such as Florida\u2019s prohibition on infusing subjects with critical race theory in our classrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court\u2019s ruling on affirmative action\u2014as well as state legislation such as Texas\u2019 SB 17, which follows Florida\u2019s lead in banning DEI offices in academic institutions\u2014prove that Florida\u2019s radical education policies have a broad audience and far-reaching consequences for students and educators outside of the state\u2019s borders. If debates over the topic of race in public school curricula offer any indication, the next battleground in America\u2019s higher education education system will concern gender identity and sexual orientation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n