Florida has told school superintendents that the Advanced Placement psychology course offered to high school students violates the state’s new law prohibiting instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, effectively banning the class, the non-profit that develops the courses said on Thursday.
The move is the latest by the administration of Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor, to limit instruction about LGBTQ+ issues and race in the state. DeSantis is challenging Donald Trump for the Republican nomination for president in 2024 and has made battles over cultural issues a centerpiece of his campaign.
Florida earlier this year banned a new AP African American studies course, saying it lacked “educational value and historical accuracy” and violated state law on how race can be taught in public classrooms.
While Florida officials said the psychology curriculum could still be presented if modified to comply with the law, the College Board, which develops AP classes, recommended that school districts refrain from teaching the course for now, rather than presenting the material without the content on sexual orientation and gender identity.
“Any AP Psychology course taught in Florida will violate either Florida law or college requirements,” the organization said in a statement posted on its website on Thursday. “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 board referred to a statement from the American Psychological Association that any course that excludes sexual orientation and gender would violate their guidelines and should not be considered for college credit. It also pointed at a statement from the Ted Mitchell, the president of the American Council on Education, who said it “strains credulity to believe that our reviewers would certify for college credit a psychology course that didn’t include gender identity”.
The college board said the AP course asks students to “describe how sex and gender influence socialization and other aspects of development”. That element of the course isn’t new, the board said. “Gender and sexual orientation have been part of AP Psychology since the course launched 30 years ago,” it wrote in its statement.
A Florida department of education spokesperson on Thursday denied that the state had banned the psychology course as contended by the College Board, which develops AP courses that help high school students gain college credits.
“Just one week before school starts, the College Board is attempting to force school districts to prevent students from taking the AP Psychology course,” said education department spokesperson Cassandra Palelis. “We encourage the College Board to stop playing games with Florida students and continue to offer the course and allow teachers to operate accordingly.”
Palelis did not immediately respond to a question about whether the state had advised superintendents that the course violated state law.
Discussions between the state and College Board about the psychology course began in May, a letter from Florida posted by the College Board on its website showed.
In the letter, the state reminded the organization about its new law banning instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in all but health courses from which parents can opt out of sending their children.
The letter asked the College Board to audit its course material and modify any content that did not comply with state law or rules set by the state board of education.
The College Board responded in June that modifying its courses in such a way would make them ineligible for college credit and would also violate academic standards, and reaffirmed that decision on Thursday.
