Florida Says AP Psychology Course Is Illegal

After blocking the Advanced Placement course on African American Studies, Florida has now "effectively banned" AP Psychology, too, according to the College Board, which oversees the AP program. It says the Florida Department of Education instructed superintendents on Thursday "that teaching foundational content on sexual orientation and gender identity is illegal under state law," namely the Parental Rights in Education Act, which bans instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through 12th grade. The state said classes could continue if those topics, included in curriculum for the last three decades, were excluded, per USA Today. But in that case, the courses couldn't be called Advanced Placement or used to earn college credit, the College Board said.

The Education Department argues it "didn't 'ban' the course" and the board is simply refusing to comply with state law as it relates to a unit focused on gender and sexuality, including gender roles and stereotypes. "Other advanced course providers (including the International Baccalaureate program) had no issue providing the college credit psychology course," a rep says, per NBC News. Yet high school senior Noah Summerlin, one of more than 28,000 Florida students who took the course last year, says he's "beyond pissed off" at the state. "By excluding the fields of psychology which they deem 'inappropriate,' Ron DeSantis and other Republicans place their personal beliefs above the rights of public school students across Florida to a full and free education," he says, per USA Today.

Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson called the state's decision a "disturbing" attempt to rewrite history by disrupting a "science-driven" curriculum backed by experts. Arthur C. Evans Jr., CEO of the American Psychological Association, previously said that "requiring what is effectively censored educational material does an enormous disservice to students across Florida, who will receive an incomplete picture of the psychological research into human development." It's just the latest battle in the College Board's feud with the state, which previously rejected the AP African American Studies course, claiming it "lacks educational value" and violates state law banning the teaching of critical race theory. (The board has lately blasted Florida's new history standards related to enslavement.)