Tag: College Board

Florida Tells Schools They Can Teach AP Psychology Course Despite Claims It Was ‘Banned’

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The Florida Department of Education (DOE) told schools Wednesday that an Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology course at the center of a controversy meets state law and can be taught, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

On Aug. 3, the College Board, an academic organization that administers and designs high school courses for college credit, claimed its AP Psychology course had been “effectively banned” because they refused to modify the course to comply with the state’s guidance prohibiting age-inappropriate lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation in Pre-K-12 classrooms. In a Wednesday letter to Florida school superintendents, the state DOE noted that the course can be taught under its Parental Rights in Education law and that the AP course will be offered during the 2023-2024 school year.

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Florida Rejects College Board Claim That AP Course Is Banned

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The Florida Department of Education (DOE) is rejecting the College Board’s claim that its Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology course was banned from the state’s public school classes, according to a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The College Board, an academic organization that administers and writes high school courses for college credit, claimed on Thursday that the Florida DOE had “effectively banned” its AP Psychology course because they cannot modify the course to comply with the state’s guidance prohibiting age-inappropriate lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation in Pre-K-12 classrooms. The Florida DOE clarified that it has not banned the course from its state’s schools and that the class still remains listed in the 2023-2024 course directory, according to a statement to the DCNF.

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College Board Declines to Alter AP Courses to Comply with Florida Law

Just the News

The College Board, the organization that oversees the administration of Advanced Placement (AP) tests and courses, has declined to alter the contents of its materials to comply with Florida law restricting the discussion of certain sexual topics in public schools.

Florida bars discussion of those matters from kindergarten through the twelfth grade. The state previously limited such discussion from kindergarten through the third grade, but expanded the measure. The state had previously asked the College Board to review its materials to determine which of its courses would require adjustment to comply with the expanded state guidance.

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College Board Will Change AP African American Studies Curriculum Again

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An Advanced Placement (AP) pilot course dedicated to African American studies will be revised again after state governors across the country argued whether or not the content was appropriate, the College Board, which oversees AP courses, announced on Monday.

AP African American Studies was rejected by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration for originally including topics such as queer theory, and was revised on Feb. 1 to eliminate those sections and readings from prominent critical race theorists. The new changes, which were not detailed but are expected to become public in the coming months, will be driven by the development committee and “experts,” according to the College Board.

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Florida Seeks to Replace SAT with CLT, Following Classical Education Trend

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ feud with the College Board is calling attention to alternatives in standardized testing methods, including the Classical Learning Test (CLT).

DeSantis began pushing back against the College Board, which administers the SAT entrance exam and Advanced Placement (AP) curricula, in January when his administration rejected the trial-run of the AP African American Studies course in the state of Florida.

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Youngkin Joins Growing Number of Governors Calling for Review of Controversial AP Course

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Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is the latest governor to call for a review of a controversial Advanced Placement (AP) course that was recently revised to remove tenets of Critical Race Theory and queer studies, Youngkin spokeswoman Macaulay Porter told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Youngkin asked the state education department to conduct a review of AP African American Studies to ensure the course, which was revised on Feb. 1, complies with state law prohibiting the use of “divisive concepts,” including CRT, in K-12 schools, according to WTOP News. College Board, which manages advanced placement courses, removed several concepts from the course after Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration rejected the framework, but maintains that it did so without political pressure.

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DeSantis Administration Further Investigates AP African American Studies Revision After College Board Reveals CRT Authors ‘Going to Be Freely Available to Students and Teachers’

Susan Berry, PhD

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration has requested the College Board release all of its materials regarding its revised Advanced Placement African American Studies (APAAS) curriculum following an NPR interview in which the College Board president touted radical leftist material would still be very much available to high school students taking the course.

With Florida’s Stop WOKE Act banning the promotion of the tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in grades K-12, the DeSantis administration rejected the initial APAAS course because it included writings such as those by radical Marxist and former Communist Party member Angela Davis, and others associated with portions of the course called the “Movement for Black Lives,” and “Black Queer Studies.”

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Scores Victory Over College Board’s AP African American Studies Course

Susan Berry, PhD

The New York Times is lamenting the College Board’s revised curriculum for its course in Advanced Placement African American Studies (APAAS) – its abandonment of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the move to make Black Lives Matter (BLM) merely an optional topic of study – both changes that suggest Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s (R) firm rejection of the radical content of the prior version significantly contributed to the new direction.

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College Board Announces Revision of AP African American Studies Course After DeSantis Rejects Pilot for Florida

Susan Berry, PhD

The College Board announced Tuesday that it will be updating its framework for its Advanced Placement (AP) African American Studies (APAAS) course following its rejection by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) and his state’s Department of Education (FDOE).

The College Board said in a statement its final framework for the course will be released on Feb. 1, reported WESH.

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The College Board’s Pilot AP African-American Studies Course Gets the Boot from Ron DeSantis’ Administration

Susan Berry, PhD

The administration of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) has rejected the College Board’s request for state approval of its new Advanced Placement (AP) African American Studies (APAAS) course.

In a copy of a letter obtained by The Star News Network, the Florida Department of Education’s (FDOE) Office of Articulation wrote to Brian Barnes, senior director of the College Board Florida Partnership, that the state “does not approve the inclusion of the Advanced Placement (AP) African American Studies course in the Florida Course Code Directory and Instructional Personnel Assignments.”

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Commentary: Getting Rid of the SAT Essay Won’t Help Anyone

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It’s official. Last month, the College Board announced that it would discontinue the essay-writing section of the SAT. It’s the latest in a series of recent decisions to reduce the use of standardized testing in college admissions. Proponents of the decision cited claims of racism and bias against underrepresented groups. But those claims don’t hold water. And ditching the writing portion of the SAT is unlikely to help anyone. 

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Testing Giant College Board to Sever Financial Ties with China after Blackburn Letter

The Center Square

College Board, the entity responsible for developing SAT and AP tests, will sever financial ties with the Chinese Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban) at the end of the year.

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, and six other U.S. senators sent a letter to College Board CEO David Coleman last week, asking for clarification of the board’s financial relationship with Hanban and the extent of Chinese government influence on test development and guest teacher placements in the U.S.

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Commentary: The New SAT ‘Adversity Score’ Turns the Idea of Meritocracy Into a Sham

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by Jarret Stepman   It would be nice to think that high school students can get into a good university based on their abilities or talents, but a proposed change to the SAT shows how the concept of meritocracy has been turned into a sham. The College Board, according to The Wall Street Journal, will now assign an “adversity score” to SAT test takers, “calculated using 15 factors including the crime rate and poverty levels from the student’s high school and neighborhood.” “There are a number of amazing students who may have scored less [on the SAT] but have accomplished more,” said David Coleman, chief executive of the College Board, according to The Wall Street Journal. “We can’t sit on our hands and ignore the disparities of wealth reflected in the SAT.” The adversity rating has already been used by 50 colleges in 2018, but will eventually extend to significantly more colleges. Every student who takes the SAT will receive this adversity score, according to the Journal, but the students and parents won’t know what it is. Of course, how something as subjective as “adversity” can actually be boiled down to a number for each person is already dubious. Worse,…

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