LOS ANGELES — On the opening day of Black History Month, the College Board is making history Wednesday by releasing details of its first Advanced Placement class on African American studies for high school students — a class that drew national attention after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis banned it in his state saying it pushes a political agenda.
The curriculum, a year in the making, was developed with input from hundreds of African American studies experts across the country, including California State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond; Tiffany Barber, an assistant professor of African American art at UCLA; and educators at San Francisco State University, the first university to introduce a department of Black studies in the late 1960s.
AP courses developed by the College Board, which also administers the SAT test, are rigorous university-level classes offered to high school students who typically can earn college credit after passing the exam. The board offers 39 AP classes on subjects including biology, chemistry, art history, English literature, music theory and computer science.
