[NY Times] The College Board Strips Down Its A.P. Curriculum for African American Studies

Did the district that voted for Santos create that much of an uproar over this? I wouldn't be surprised if that was your neck of the woods @Os Trigonum...

 

This course better talk about Michael Jackson.

 

DeSantis wins again. Hate it, but I won't deny it.

 

Populist politicians dictating curriculum on the whims of national hot topics, what could possibly go wrong

 

Incredible timing for them to make changes unrelated to political pressure


This is obviously a subject you are much more connected to than me, have you had any thoughts on this ordeal?

 

I hope they talk about Prince too

 

With the slow timeline for the development of this course, I would be surprised that it's due to FL criticism. As typical of DeSantis's team, they knew the next update was 2/1 and took advantage of that to generate a story. And they succeeded in doing so.

Link

 

This is the part that stood out to me in the piece.
"The attack on the A.P. course turned out to be the prelude to a much larger agenda. On Tuesday, Governor DeSantis unveiled a proposal to overhaul higher education that would eliminate what he called “ideological conformity” by, among other things, mandating courses in Western civilization."

 

I haven't followed this topic, but what's quoted seems highly reasonable to me.

 

Wouldn't a high concept history class address complex topics like the Reparations movement and activism?

 

College Board Responds to the Florida Department of Education – All Access | College Board

February 8, 2023

Florida Department of Education
Office of Articulation
325 W. Gaines Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0400

Office of Articulation,

We have received your letter dated February 7, 2023.

We have a long and productive track record of working with the state of Florida to prepare students for post-secondary success. When the College Board undertakes the intensive, multi-year process to introduce a new AP course, we provide states and departments of education across the country with the information they request for inclusion of courses within their systems. We care deeply that high school students in every state have access to these rigorous, high quality, college-level courses. If any state expresses concerns during this process, we consider and incorporate such input only if it is academically valid. Our colleagues who work diligently in states across the country, including Florida, can attest to this longstanding process.

Many AP courses, especially those based in history and culture, deal with contested topics. The AP Program navigates those challenging waters by relying on our AP Principles. These principles make it abundantly clear that we stand against censorship and indoctrination equally.

The recent launch of the AP African American Studies course framework is no different. In developing the official framework for AP African American Studies, we relied on the principles and practices that have allowed us to provide courses nationwide for 50 years. AP courses focus on a core set of facts and evidence where there is widespread agreement among academic experts, and they never mandate a definitive single view of contemporary events. This approach enables students to access Advanced Placement’s college benefits across the diversity of US states.

It is imperative that we have clarity in our discussions with states, and we welcome this opportunity to address some key points from your recent communications regarding AP African American Studies.

1. We never received written feedback from the Florida Department of Education specifying how the course violates Florida law, despite repeated requests. On three occasions beginning in September 2022, we requested from FDOE specific information about why the pilot course was deemed out of compliance with Florida law. We received a commitment that such feedback would be provided, but it never was.
   
   The first and only written feedback we have received was through a tweet from Commissioner Diaz posted on January 20, 2023. Four of the six course elements criticized in that tweet were in fact not present in the actual pilot framework we provided you in July 2022, including readings by Angela Davis and bell hooks, and references to Leslie Kay Jones and Roderick Ferguson. The tweet also objected to “Black Queer Studies,” though no such topic appears in the July 2022 pilot course framework.
   
2. Your February 7, 2023 letter alludes to course topics that you characterize as “historically fictional,” but does not specify which topics or why. We are confident in the historical accuracy of every topic included in the pilot framework, as well as those now in the official framework.
   
3. As is always the case in AP, our selection of topics for this course has been guided by feedback from educators, disciplinary experts, and principles that have long shaped AP courses. Your letter claims that we removed 19 topics that were present in the pilot framework at the behest of FDOE. This is inaccurate.
   
   AP’s pilot process is always designed to reduce the number of topics to a scope and sequence appropriate for teaching and learning in a single academic year. Data from faculty nationwide and surveys of college syllabi indicated in spring 2022 a need to reduce the number of topics in the pilot framework by 20%. The choice of which topics to remove drew on comparisons of the AP pilot framework to college syllabi and prioritized what is essential for college credit. We also drew on our principles for AP, including a focus on primary documents and places where the historical record is clear.
   
   We must also clarify that no Black scholars or authors have been removed from the course. In fact, contemporary scholars and authors are never mandated in any AP framework. Instead, the AP Program utilizes our AP Classroom digital library to provide such resources, where teachers are free to assign readings but are not required to do so. Further, through the required project component, contemporary topics like the Movement for Black Lives and debates over incarceration and reparations can play a more significant role in earning college credit than in the pilot, where they were also elective but did not contribute to the exam score.
   
   Within the official framework, the project design means that a student can select a contemporary topic and earn up to 20% of their exam score. As we state clearly in the framework – and consistent with the AP Principles – we require students to analyze and present evidence on all sides of a topic or debate for the project they select. To be clear, while a project is required, no specific topic is mandated.
   
4. We did not provide FDOE a “preview” of the College Board’s official framework. We briefed FDOE on the content of the framework after it had been shared publicly on the morning of February 1, 2023. No one in the department had seen the official framework before it was finalized and publicly shared.
   
5. Finally, we need to clarify that no topics were removed because they lacked educational value. We believe all the topics listed in your letter have substantial educational value.

We believe every student should have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the facts and evidence of the African American experience, regardless of where those students live. This course has a great deal to offer to students from every background, and it is particularly resonant for African American students. Florida has a strong track record of providing diverse students with access to AP courses: 29% of Black students in Florida’s class of 2021 took an AP course while in high school – the third highest rate in the country.

If Florida or any state chooses not to adopt this course, we would regret that decision, and we believe educators and students would as well. We look forward to continuing to work together to deliver opportunities for Florida students.

The College Board

 

Our commitment to AP African American Studies, the scholars, and the field – All Access | College Board

Our commitment to AP African American Studies is unwavering. This will be the most rigorous, cohesive immersion that high school students have ever had in this discipline. Many more students than ever before will go on to deepen their knowledge in African American Studies programs in college.

Teachers and students piloting this course are everywhere voicing their enthusiasm for the discoveries they are making. They are thriving in the openness and respect of the classroom environments they have built.

There is always debate about the content of a new AP course. That is good and healthy; these courses matter. But the dialogue surrounding AP African American Studies has moved from healthy debate to misinformation.

We are proud of this course. But we have made mistakes in the rollout that are being exploited.

We need to clear the air and set the record straight.

1. We deeply regret not immediately denouncing the Florida Department of Education’s slander, magnified by the DeSantis administration’s subsequent comments, that African American Studies “lacks educational value.” Our failure to raise our voice betrayed Black scholars everywhere and those who have long toiled to build this remarkable field.
   
   
2. We should have made clear that the framework is only the outline of the course, still to be populated by the scholarly articles, video lectures, and practice questions that we assemble and make available to all AP teachers in the summer for free and easy assignment to their students. This error triggered a conversation about erasing or eliminating Black thinkers. The vitriol aimed at these scholars is repulsive and must stop.
   
   Rather, scholars are essential to this course, and each AP teacher must select works by scholars to include in the syllabus they submit for AP course authorization, as they do in a range of other AP courses that require secondary sources in the syllabus. We are requesting copyright permission to include works on our AP Classroom digital platform by every author mentioned in any iteration of the framework, bringing these readings to students worldwide by enabling AP teachers to assign them with one click.
   
   
3. We should have made clear that contemporary events like the Black Lives Matter movement, reparations, and mass incarceration were optional topics in the pilot course. Our lack of clarity allowed the narrative to arise that political forces had “downgraded” the role of these contemporary movements and debates in the AP class. The actual pilot course materials teachers used were completed on April 29, 2022—far prior to any pushback. In these pilot materials, teachers were told to pick only one such topic. This topic could be assigned after the exam since it didn’t count and would have no impact on the student’s AP score.
   
   The official framework is a significant improvement, rather than a watering down: three weeks are now dedicated to a research project of the student’s choice, which counts as 20% of the student’s AP Exam score for college credit. This model better aligns with the flexibility colleges themselves often provide students to do an extended paper on a topic of their choice. We encourage students to focus their projects on contemporary issues and debates to ensure their application of knowledge to the present.
   
   
4. We have not succeeded in focusing the conversation on the remarkable work and flexibility of the pilot teachers in different states. The fact is that pilot teachers everywhere are introducing the core concepts of this discipline with skill and care. Sadly, in some states teachers have more room to maneuver than others. We recognize that in some states teachers and students will be able to draw more widely on Black Studies scholarship than in others. But we must resist the narrative that teachers in states with restrictions are not doing exceptional work with their students, introducing them to so much and preparing them for so much more.
   
   By filling the course with concrete examples of the foundational concepts in this discipline, we have given teachers the flexibility to teach the essential content without putting their livelihoods at risk. The committee will continue to evaluate this approach, making further changes to the framework if they decide to do so.
   
   
5. While it has been claimed that the College Board was in frequent dialogue with Florida about the content of AP African American Studies, this is a false and politically motivated charge. Our exchanges with them are actually transactional emails about the filing of paperwork to request a pilot course code and our response to their request that the College Board explain why we believe the course is not in violation of Florida laws.
   
   We had no negotiations about the content of this course with Florida or any other state, nor did we receive any requests, suggestions, or feedback.
   
   We were naive not to announce Florida’s rejection of the course when FDOE first notified us on September 23, 2022, in a letter entitled “CB Letter AP Africain [sic] Studies.” This letter, like all written communications we received from Florida, contained no explanation of the rejection. Instead, Florida invited us to call them if we had any questions.
   
   We made those calls, as we would to any state that says they have unstated concerns about an AP course. These phone calls with FDOE were absent of substance, despite the audacious claims of influence FDOE is now making. In the discussion, they did not offer feedback but instead asked vague, uninformed questions like, “What does the word ‘intersectionality’ mean?” and “Does the course promote Black Panther thinking?” FDOE did not bring any African American Studies scholars or teachers to their call with us, despite the presence in their state of so many renowned experts in this discipline.
   
   Since FDOE did not make any requests or suggestions during the calls, we asked them if they could share specific concerns in writing. They said they had to check with their supervisors and get permission. They never sent us any feedback, but instead sent a second letter to us on January 12, 2023, as a PR stunt which repeated the same rejection but now with inflated rhetoric and posturing, saying the course lacked “educational value.”
   
   On the day after Florida sent us that second letter, the AP executive overseeing the process of developing this course—the only AP leader who participated in the telephone calls with FDOE—followed up with the College Board’s FDOE liaison to ask whether we should ever expect any actual feedback from Florida. This is the response:
   
   “I don’t think they [FDOE] intend to provide any notes. My guess is that [the FDOE staff member] shared his notes with leadership (as he told us he would) and they shut it down. He might have even been instructed not to share notes.”
   
   We have made the mistake of treating FDOE with the courtesy we always accord to an education agency, but they have instead exploited this courtesy for their political agenda. After each written or verbal exchange with them, as a matter of professional protocol, we politely thanked them for their feedback and contributions, although they had given none.
6. 
   
7. 
   In Florida’s effort to engineer a political win, they have claimed credit for the specific changes we made to the official framework. In their February 7, 2023, letter to us, which they leaked to the media within hours of sending, Florida expresses gratitude for the removal of 19 topics, none of which they ever asked us to remove, and most of which remain in the official framework.
   
   They also claimed that we removed terms like “systemic marginalization” and “intersectionality” at their behest. This is not true. The notion that we needed Florida to enlighten us that these terms are politicized in several states is ridiculous. We took a hard look at these terms because they often are misunderstood, misrepresented, and co-opted as political weapons. Instead we focused throughout the framework on providing concrete examples of these important concepts. Florida is attempting to claim a political victory by taking credit retroactively for changes we ourselves made but that they never suggested to us.
   
   FDOE’s most recent letter continues to deride the field of African American Studies by describing key topics as “historically fictional.” We have asked them what they meant by that accusation, and they have failed to answer. The College Board condemns this uninformed caricature of African American Studies and the harm it does to scholars and students.

This new AP course can be historic—what makes history are the lived experiences of millions of African Americans, and the long work of scholars who have built this field. We hope our future efforts will unmistakably and unequivocally honor their work.

 

^^ They (AP College Board) were naive and were used. Woke up to it and respond to clarify.