Education Week - March 30, 2022 - 8

College Board Warns Against Censoring Its AP Courses
By Ileana Najarro
The Advanced Placement program
has long provided a stepping
stone to college-level work for high
school students. But as a growing
number of states enact bans or restrictions
on teaching about " divisive "
or " controversial " topics in K-12
schools, questions are rising over
how AP coursework will be impacted,
particularly in subjects such as
U.S. History or African American
Studies, the newest course in development.
How
has the College Board-the
organization that runs the AP program-responded
to those questions?
Well, it's complicated.
On the one hand, in a statement to
Education Week on Jan. 18 the College
Board says it is " not aware of
any instances in which state requirements
conflict with the standards of
college-level AP courses. "
But on March 2, the organization
sent AP teachers a reminder of program
principles they must adhere to.
If instruction is censored, the College
Board says, students could end
up losing AP credit.
The College Board sets the required
teaching topics-and in some
cases, the
required foundational
texts-for all AP courses. A school
must prove that their AP courses
meet these requirements to get a
legal license for AP authorization of
the course.
For instance, an AP U.S. Government
and Politics teacher must
assign the reading of Martin Luther
King Jr.'s famous " Letter From
Birmingham Jail " essay, the College
Board says. But if that teacher
chooses to omit that required text
from their authorized AP U.S. Government
and Politics course-be it
in fear of crossing a state law limiting
classroom discussions on racism,
fear of parent pushback, or some
other reason-the course would then
lose its AP license and the AP designation
would be removed from students'
transcripts.
The AP Program has an annual
course audit process in which principals
and teachers submit their proposed
AP course syllabus for review
by college professors to get AP authorization,
the College Board says. In
cases where required topics of authorized
courses are omitted, parents,
students, and educators can report
it through the AP course audit help
line.
While the College Board sets the
required topics, it does not specify
how to go about teaching them. An
AP U.S. History teacher must cover
the " causes and effects of the victory
of the [United States] and its allies
over the Axis powers in World War
II, " but which leaders and battles to
focus on and how to present these
examples in class would be up to the
teacher, the organization says.
The lingering questions on how
and what to teach-such as how or
whether to discuss current events
Sample text of AP principles
The AP program " makes public its course
frameworks and sample assessments. "
Sample text of education bills/bans
Virginia governor's executive order:
Superintendent of public instruction must
" ensure that parents are empowered with
open access to information on primary
instructional materials utilized in any school. "
" AP courses enable students to develop
as independent thinkers and to draw
their own conclusions. Evidence and the
scientific method are the starting place
for conversations in AP courses. "
North Dakota HB1508: " Each school district
and public school shall ensure instruction
of its curriculum is factual, objective, and
aligned to the kindergarten through
grade [12] state content standards. "
" AP students are expected to analyze
different perspectives from their own, and
no points on an AP Exam are awarded
for agreement with a viewpoint. "
Texas HB3979: Teachers who discuss a
" particular current event or widely debated
and currently controversial issue of public
policy or social affairs... shall, to the best of the
teacher's ability, strive to explore the topic from
diverse and contending perspectives without
giving deference to any one perspective. "
" AP students are not required to feel certain
ways about themselves or the course content. "
Florida HB7: Prohibits instruction that makes
students believe they must " feel guilt, anguish,
or other forms of psychological distress "
because of past actions by members of the
" same race, color national origin or sex. "
" Students are encouraged to evaluate
arguments but not one another. Respectful
debate of ideas is cultivated and protected;
personal attacks have no place in AP. "
New Hampshire HB2: Prohibits teaching
students " that one's age, sex, gender identity,
sexual orientation, race, creed, color, marital
status, familial status, mental or physical
disability, religion or national origin is inherently
superior to people of another age, sex, gender
identity, sexual orientation, race, creed, color,
marital status, familial status, mental or
physical disability, religion, or national origin. "
in a history class to help students
connect the dots between past and
present-has some teachers on edge.
For instance, when talking about the
history of Jim Crow laws and the civil
rights movement, would it be too
controversial to link it to the Black
Lives Matter movement?
" I guess
there's a nervousness
that I've never had in my 12 years of
teaching, " said Scott Frank, an AP
Psychology and International Baccalaureate
History of the Americas
teacher in Brownsville, Texas, who
teaches AP U.S. History material in
the latter course.
What AP stands for amid
growing legislation
The College Board's latest public
statement on what the AP program
stands for-including its opposition
to censorship and indoctrination-
comes as Florida is set to become the
latest state to pass what are commonly
referred to as anti-critical race theory
laws.
In a largely conservative push for
Students at IDEA Frontier College Preparatory in Brownsville, Texas, analyze images and paragraphs for an
assignment in Scott Frank's history class.
more than year, at least 14 states have
enacted bans or restrictions on how
to teach topics of racism and sexism
in K-12 schools and the teaching
of critical race theory, an academic
framework that posits that racism is
systemic as opposed to only individual
acts of discrimination. State officials
in favor of such bills have said
they are aimed at preventing teachers
from telling students what to think
or encouraging them to see division
among racial and other groups.
Much of the College Board's AP
program principles seem to address
such language, emphasizing the program's
focus on factual information
and multiple viewpoints, and offering
a defense of AP coursework.
For instance, Florida's House bill
7, championed by and expected to be
signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, would
prohibit teaching in a way that would
lead to students feeling " guilt, anguish,
or other forms of psychological
distress " because of past actions
by members of the same race, sex, or
national origin.
The AP's fourth principle addresses
this, stating that " AP students
are not required to feel certain ways
about themselves or the course content.
AP courses instead develop students'
abilities to assess the credibility
of sources, draw conclusions, and
make up their own minds. "
Texas' law says teachers who discuss
a " particular current event or
widely debated and currently controversial
issue of public policy or social
affairs ... shall, to the best of the
teacher's ability, strive to explore the
topic from diverse and contending
perspectives without giving deference
to any one perspective. "
The AP statement of principles
SOURCE: EdWeek Reporting
8 | EDUCATION WEEK | March 30, 2022 | www.edweek.org
says " AP students are expected to
analyze different perspectives from
their own, and no points on an AP
exam are awarded for agreement
with a viewpoint. " It adds that " the
Courtesy of Scott Frank

http://www.edweek.org

Education Week - March 30, 2022

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