NORTH MIAMI, Fla. – Students in Miami-Dade and Broward counties will be able to take Advanced Placement Psychology courses during the upcoming school year.
The decision comes after a battle between the state and the College Board, which sets AP course standards, with the first day of school right around the corner.
Kevin Miller is a social science teacher at Plantation High School.
Broward parents will now have to opt-in for their children to take his AP Psychology course.
“I’m glad that they’re allowing us to teach about the mind and behavior because that it what psychology is,” said Miller.
Last week, the College Board announced Florida had effectively banned AP Psychology because its education department told superintendents the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity is illegal.
This is a course that had been taught for decades, and the College Board then announced if it could not be taught in its entirety, about 30,000 Florida students would lose out on the college credit.
The state’s education commissioner, Manny Diaz, seemingly backtracked, putting out a memo telling all superintendents the course could be taught in its entirety.
“In the book, when they talk about gender identity, they’re talking about social roles, they’re talking about gender roles,” said Miller.
It is the kind of high school coursework he believes is vital in our society as we all navigate our understanding of each other.
“I think the younger we are that we get this information about understanding each other, I think the better the future is going to be,” Miller said.
ADDITIONAL LINKS
- Communications from the FL Department of Education: This page includes the College Board’s initial statement on AP Psychology. At the bottom of the page there are links to the communication from FLDOE and the attestation forum.
- College credit policies: This is a synopsis of how the process colleges often use to determine which AP exam scores will earn students college credits.
- AP Principles and AP Audit process: The AP Principles is a great document, and at the bottom is a statement about how to report issues. The second link is the AP Audit process, which is how courses are authorized.