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AP psychology course can’t be offered over gender identity, sexual orientation lessons, College Board says [1]

['Leslie Postal', 'Leslie Postal Is The Education Reporter For The Orlando Sentinel.']

Date: 2023-08-03

Florida will not allow public school students to take Advanced Placement psychology because the course includes lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity, topics forbidden by the state, the College Board said Thursday.

The state, however, said the College Board was “playing games” and that the course could be offered. However, the Florida Department of Education had previously told the College Board it would need to sign an “assurance document” that AP psychology, and other AP courses, met Florida laws and rules.

The College Board would not do that and said to offer its course in Florida would mean dropping sexual orientation and gender identity – key topics in a college-level psychology course. As a result, it advised school districts not to make it part of their schedule for the coming school year.

That means the class schedules for thousands of students are likely up in the air now, with school starting Aug. 10 in most districts. About 5,000 students in Central Florida and about 28,000 statewide took AP psychology last year.

A spokeswoman for Lake County schools said the district would not offer AP psychology this year, based on guidance from the College Board and the education department. The district will be giving students options to take other college-level psychology courses that do not include the banned topics, Sherri Owens said in an email.

Orange County Public Schools sent messages late Thursday to parents of students enrolled in AP psychology, telling them the class cannot be offered because of “select content” that isn’t allowed by Florida rules and because the “College Board requires educators to teach the entire curriculum for an AP course for college credit.”

With AP psychology no longer an option, OCPS schools are “working to identify alternative options for your child’s schedule,” the message said.

Other Central Florida districts did not immediately respond to questions about their plans for AP psychology.

Cassie Palelis, an education department spokeswoman, said other “advanced course providers,” such as the International Baccalaureate program, had “no issue” with offering a college-level psychology course in Florida, and that the College Board should do the same.

“The Department didn’t ‘ban’ the course,” Palelis said in an email. “The course remains listed in Florida’s Course Code Directory for the 2023-24 school year. We encourage the College Board to stop playing games with Florida students and continue to offer the course and allow teachers to operate accordingly.”

But the College Board said it advised districts not to offer the course because doing so would violate state law or, if altered, the requirements of the class.

“We are sad to have learned that today the Florida Department of Education has effectively banned AP Psychology in the state by instructing Florida superintendents that teaching foundational content on sexual orientation and gender identity is illegal under state law,” the College Board said in a statement.

“Therefore, we advise Florida districts not to offer AP Psychology until Florida reverses their decision and allows parents and students to choose to take the full course.”

The College Board runs the 40-course AP program, which aims to offer high school students introductory college courses and a chance to earn college credit. AP psychology has been offered in the state since 1993.

According to the College Board, the education department told school superintendents they could offer AP psychology only if lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity were omitted.

But the College Board said those are part of the class and, if deleted, the course will not be able to carry the AP designation.

“This element of the framework is not new: gender and sexual orientation have been part of AP Psychology since the course launched 30 years ago. As we shared in June, we cannot modify AP Psychology in response to regulations that would censor college-level standards for credit, placement, and career readiness.”

Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, called the state’s stance a “terrible decision” that is “100% politically motivated” and will hurt Florida students.

“As someone who graduated from Florida public schools with college credit via AP classes, I know how powerful and effective these classes are and I am sick to my stomach to see what Governor Ron DeSantis and the Republican Party are doing in our state,” she said in a statement.

Equality Florida, the state’s largest LGBTQ civil rights group, also criticized Florida’s decision, saying it was “at war with students and parents, censoring more AP curriculum and denying students the opportunity to earn college credit.”

Earlier this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis rejected the AP African American studies course, saying “woke” topics violated Florida laws.

In May, Florida asked the College Board to review all its courses to make sure they comply with Florida law, which because of new laws and rules, prohibits teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity as well as certain race-related topics.

In June, the College Board told the state it would not alter the AP psychology course, which had been taught at 562 Florida high schools.

Florida has had a two-decade relationship with the College Board and its courses are popular among public school students looking for challenging classes and a chance to early college credit.

In 2021, Florida had the highest AP participation rate in the country and ranked second, behind only Connecticut, for the percentage of high school seniors who had passed at least one AP exam, the Florida Department of Education said. In 2022, Florida high school students took nearly 364,000 AP exams, College Board data shows.

But that relationship soured in the last year, most notably when Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration announced the rejection of the AP African American studies because of content it found objectionable.

DeSantis this spring signed legislation that authorizes the development of a state-based alternative to the AP program and allows students to use the Classic Learning Test in addition to the ACT and SAT to qualify for Bright Futures scholarships. The SAT, the most popular college admission tests in Florida, is made by the College Board.

Florida’s ban on instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity was part of its Parental Rights in Education law, dubbed “don’t say gay” by critics. The law, first applied to kindergarten through second grade, was expanded this year, and a new State Board of Education rule banned those topics in all grades through high school.

That April vote by the board immediately prompted questions about whether schools could keep AP psychology given that those topics could not be taught..

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[1] Url: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/08/03/florida-bans-ap-psychology-over-gender-identity-sexual-orientation-lessons/

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