An Advanced Placement class is being eliminated in Florida, not by the Florida Department of Education. Via email, the department's Deputy Director of Communications, Cassandra Palelis writes:
Just one week before school starts, the College Board is attempting to force school districts to prevent students from taking the AP Psychology Course.
The Department didn’t “ban” the course. 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.
The other advanced course providers (including the International Baccalaureate program) had no issue providing the college credit psychology course.
The College Board announced that the state is effectively banning AP Psychology because it violates the Parental Rights in Education law by offering teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity. Instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity is prohibited from being included in lessons for Florida students in kindergarten through eighth grade, under a law (HB 1069) signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in May.
South Florida school districts like Miami-Dade are informing students, set to begin the new school year in less than two weeks, that the college credit course is being cut.
The dispute over the AP Psychology course is not the first time DeSantis and state education officials have clashed with the College Board. In January, the state objected to several topics that were proposed for inclusion in an AP African American studies course that was being developed.
The controversy over the African American studies course prompted DeSantis, who is running for president, to say that the state would "look to re-evaluate" its relationship with the organization.
The American Psychological Association is weighing in on the issue.
“An advanced placement course that ignores the decades of science studying sexual orientation and gender identity would deprive students of knowledge they will need to succeed in their studies, in high school and beyond,” Arthur C. Evans Jr., the CEO of the association, said in a statement Thursday.