The state of Florida “effectively banned” a second Advanced Placement course as noncompliant with its newly enacted standards, this time barring hundreds of districts from offering a psychology class as long as it includes discussion of gender and sexual orientation, officials said Thursday.
Earlier this year, the state barred schools from offering a newly created AP African American Studies course. Now Florida is blocking districts from offering a class that they have taught for three decades and to thousands of students each year.
Florida officials told school superintendents Thursday that they may offer the class but only if material concerning sexual orientation and gender identity is removed, said William J. “Bill” Montford III, chief executive at the Florida Association of District School Superintendents, who was on the call. He said districts were encouraged to teach a modified version of the class.
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The College Board, which runs the AP program, responded that the class will not be compliant with college requirements if these topics are removed and that schools that do so cannot call the class “Advanced Placement.”
“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 said.
The state guidance comes just a week before classes begin across the state, forcing districts into difficult decisions. They can alter the course in defiance of the College Board’s warning, they can teach it and risk violating state law, or they can scramble to come up with an alternative. Across Florida, 562 schools offer AP psychology.
School leaders are now in a terrible bind, Montford said.
“What if you’ve already got literally thousands of students enrolled in the class and teachers hired?” he said.
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Montford said his organization’s advice to its members was to “follow the law” and not teach prohibited subjects. But he said the group took no position on whether schools should alter the course or replace it. “Superintendents and teachers and parents and students have tough decisions to make,” he said.
Cassandra Palelis, a spokeswoman for the Florida education department, blamed the College Board for trying to stop the course from being taught.
“We encourage the College Board to stop playing games with Florida students and continue to offer the course and allow teachers to operate accordingly,” she said.
Rachel Chapman, who has taught AP psychology for 17 years, had been scheduled to teach six sections of the course beginning next week at her Orlando high school. She said Thursday that she doesn’t know what her district will do now.
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Chapman said she will quickly gear up and teach a different curriculum if she has to, but she worries that students will miss essential knowledge and college-level material.
“The politicization of it is completely baffling,” she said. “Because [the course] really is just seeking truth.”
The AP psychology course asks students to “describe how sex and gender influence socialization and other aspects of development.” The College Board said this element of the class had been present since the course launched in 1993. Florida schools have offered the class every year since then, an official said.
In practice, the only real requirement is for teaching the definitions of sexual orientation and gender identity and the difference between them, said Elliott Hammer, professor of psychology at Xavier University of Louisiana and chief reader for AP psychology exams.
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“It’s a pretty small topic,” he said.
Share this articleShareHe added that teachers may also explore the implication of these identities on how people “interact with the world,” but the extent of this discussion depends on the teacher.
Chapman also said the content on the prohibited topics was scant, but she argued it is essential. They “allow us to understand fully and completely the human experience,” she said.
This is the latest in a series of clashes across the country over how schools teach and talk about sexual orientation and gender identity, with conservatives pushing to excise these topics. A Washington Post analysis of challenges to books in 153 school districts found more than four in 10 targeted titles had LGBTQ+ characters or themes.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, has led the effort in his state. Thursday’s decision about the AP course stems from the Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed by opponents as “Don’t Say Gay.” The legislation outlawed classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, but in April, DeSantis’s education department expanded it to include all grades. Teachers who violate the ban could see their teaching licenses suspended or revoked.
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This week, two organizations that also offer advanced coursework — International Baccalaureate and Cambridge International — said their psychology courses were already compliant with Florida’s standards. That’s because they already allow districts to pick and choose among a menu of lessons.
“Cambridge’s course gives teachers and local districts the flexibility to decide which material to use for different topics,” said Thomas Rodgers, a spokesman for Cambridge International, which offers the Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) Diploma program.
Teachings about gender identity and sexual orientation, he said, were “always optional.”
“The IB’s inquiry-based learning model is a solution to meet and transcend various education requirements,” Robert Kelty, IB’s head of Outreach, Development and Government Relations, said in a statement. “IB educators guide students while ensuring that the IB incorporates local mandates to provide a consistent world-class education.”
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Palelis, the state spokeswoman, pointed to these statements as evidence that the subject can be taught without delving into prohibiting topics.
But those policies are unsettling to the American Psychological Association, which argues that gender and sexuality are essential topics for any psychology course.
“We have standards for what high school psychology should learn — gender identify and sexual orientation are in our standards,” said Catherine Grus, chief education officer at the association. “That’s part of a complete psychology course.”
Earlier this year, Florida’s education department asked the College Board, which oversees AP courses nationwide, to review its materials and confirm it was in compliance with new prohibitions on teaching gender identity and sexual orientation in public schools, and to make modifications if needed to do so.
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In June, the College Board responded that it would not modify its psychology course, saying gender identity and sexual orientation were “essential topics.”
This is the second clash between DeSantis’s education department and the College Board. In January, Florida officials rejected a pilot version of AP African American studies, declaring that it “lacks educational value.” DeSantis accused the course architects of promoting “a political agenda.”
After that, the College Board modified the course, seemingly in response to conservative complaints. For instance, it removed the term “systemic” in describing racism.
This time, the College Board took a harder line from the start. “We have learned from our mistakes,” it said in its June statement, “and know that we must be clear from the outset where we stand.”
The AP psychology course has been popular in Florida and nationwide. According to the College Board, more than 28,600 Florida students took the course exam in May. Last year, about 292,000 students nationwide took the exam.
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