Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Monday that Florida seeks to reevaluate its relationship with the College Board as their dispute over the African American studies course continues.
Florida objected to several topics that were suggested for inclusion in an Advanced Placement African American studies course that was being established. It led to a conflict between Florida school officials and the College Board that became public in January.
In a letter to the College Board, the Florida Department of Education listed topics that were originally intended for the course such as Black queer studies and the reparations movement and effectively stated that the state would not offer the course without modifications.
College-level subjects are available to high school students through Advanced Placement programs created by the College Board.
The topics that the department objected to and the works of various writers that would have been required in the course were removed from the new framework for the course that the College Board released on February 1.
According to the statement of the organization in the framework, the released formal framework has not been seen by any states or district, much less received feedback. Only the advice of experts and established AP principles and practices have been used to build this course.
The department stated that it is looking forward to reviewing the entire and official resubmission of the course for the upcoming academic year without approving the altered course framework. But the College Board apologized for not resisting the DeSantis administration in a statement published on its website on Saturday.
According to Harvard Kennedy School professor Khalil Muhammed, the College Board has ultimately found itself in a crisis of its own making. It has made an effort to justify correspondence between members of the College Board and the Florida Department of Education regarding the issue of what is covered in the African American Studies curriculum.
More than 800 academics, including Muhammed, defended the AP African American history course in an open letter. To reflect the full scope of African American studies, he claimed that instructors want the original content restored.
In response to comments made by Florida officials about the Advanced Placement class, the testing organization that created a new college-level African American studies course for high school students has accused the state Education Department of slander and spreading false information about it for political purposes.
In a long statement released on Saturday, the College Board also acknowledged that it made faults in the deployment of the course framework that is being abused.
It also contested how Florida officials, who requested that the course be resubmitted for review after it was initially rejected, have described their interaction and influence with the testing non-profit.
The Florida Education Department claimed that the AP African American Studies course lacks educational value and violates state law, prompting a national discussion about how subjects like racism and history are taught in public schools.
The College Board then stated in response. According to the new legislation approved by DeSantis, who outlawed the teaching of critical race theory, Florida now forbids training that implies anyone is privileged or oppressed because of their age or skin color.
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DeSantis claimed last month that the state was rejecting the course because it pushed a political agenda. The course’s primary framework called for studying queer theory and political forces that support abolishing jails.
In a response to a question from a reporter regarding the College Board’s statement, DeSantis reaffirmed his opinion on Monday.
At a news conference in Naples, He said that their department of Education looked at it and according to him, Florida requires education, not indoctrination.
The State Education Department has reservations about six of the topics of the course, including reparations, the Movement for Black Lives, and Black feminism.
A disagreement might have been inevitable given the political situation today. African American studies have roots in the student and civil rights movements of the 1960s.
Left-leaning academics in this field frequently view the social justice struggle against racism as a part of their field.
The field serves as an illustration of liberal orthodoxy gone through the eyes of many conservatives. They have challenged the fundamental concept of it and advocated for a method of studying Black history that emphasizes historical heroes rather than the current political issues of academic theory.
The beginning of the 2023 legislative session is set on March 7, and many measures aimed at what DeSantis terms trendy ideology have been put out for consideration.
Meanwhile, Black state lawmakers and religious groups have expressed outrage over the DeSantis administration’s rejection of the African American AP courses. Ben Crump, a well-known civil rights lawyer, has additionally decided to sue the administration over the decision.
Sen. Shevrin Jones, a Democrat from Miami Gardens, charged DeSantis with perhaps endangering the Florida students’ access to education if the state severs connections with the College Board.
