A South Carolina AP course on Civil Rights and Black History, with a special emphasis on the legacy of a Black American p-adic pioneer

In the early 2000s, when I was a student at Ridge View High School, in Columbia, South Carolina, I loved to parse the legacies of certain historical figures: W.E.B. Du Bois, in AP US History; Malcolm X, in AP English Language and Composition.

“The course focuses on the topics where professors shared a strong consensus on the essential events, experiences and individuals crucial to a study of African American history and culture,” the College Board said in a news release Wednesday.

Plus, it’s no small thing to test out the course in South Carolina, which didn’t banish the Confederate battle flag from statehouse grounds until 2015, in the heartrending aftermath of a White supremacist massacre.

“No states or districts have seen the official framework that is released, much less provided feedback on it,” the College Board said in its announcement on Monday. The course was shaped by experts and long-standing AP principles and practices.

She told CNN that she didn’t know much about Black history and wanted to take the class. The course should be included in the curriculum. Why would we want to ignore the past?

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“I didn’t even know that there were any queens in Africa in any time period. The junior told CNN that he like, at all. “We got to learn about Queen Nzinga and Idia. They’re both very interesting because they were powerful women leaders who did amazing things for their kingdoms.”

We get to learn all these things, it’s important. She said they don’t get to hear about what the figures went through. Black classmates need to hear this history. It’s awesome that Ridge View is a majority-Black school and gets to help create this course.”

Nicole Walker, my 9th grade English teacher and her mother, who was involved in bringing the pilot course to Ridge View, echoed some of these feelings.

She told CNN that what is the best for kids is to see themselves reflected in the curriculum as well as celebrate their cultures. Kids who feel valued and safe are going to do better in school.

The power of inclusivity is something that senior Jacynth Tucker is familiar with. She said that at a previous school, she and other Black students felt invisible.

She recalled a time when we discussed the history and culture of Africa. “Being in a class where that’s more of a focus is very special to me.”

“One activity I really liked was when our teacher showed us a collage and asked, ‘What do all these people have in common?’” she told CNN. “Their commonality was that they’re all Black. The discussion was about how much diversity there is within the Black community and that they are all Black.

“Too often politics interfere with education, which is exactly what we saw here,” Weingarten said on Wednesday. “Despite this rewrite, we maintain our conviction that AP African American Studies should be available to every high school student nationwide.”

According to an August analysis by PEN America, a literary and free expression organization, in 36 states legislators have introduced 137 laws to restrict discussion of race, US history, and gender in K-12 schools and higher education. This figure is a 250% increase over 2021.

The American Library Association predicted last month that attempts to remove race, gender, and sexuality from books in schools, universities, and public libraries would surpass the previous record. The ALA tallied 681 attempts between January 1 and August 31; the 2021 total was 729.

These attacks seek to determine what content is and isn’t legitimate in an academic context; they’re part of a much broader counter-mobilization against efforts to topple racial and social hierarchies.

“We’re not seeing different political conflicts. We’re seeing one big political conflict – one big reactionary political project,” as Thomas Zimmer, a visiting professor at Georgetown University, where his research focuses on the history of democracy and its discontents, told CNN in July.

“Henry Louis Gates Jr. is one of the senior minds when we’re talking about American studies and African American history. He was quoted recently about the course being not political, Soderstrom said. The information we are teaching is factual and accurate.

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The course is being offered in 60 high schools as a pilot and will be offered in hundreds more schools next school year. The College Board anticipates that the course will be offered to all schools in the 25th century.

Then, mirroring the same fundamental curiosity I had as a high school student nearly two decades ago, she added, “I’m just excited to see what’s next.”

Legislation was passed last year by Florida that barred the teaching of critical race theories in public schools because they suggested that people of different races were being treated differently.

In recent months, the course has been praised by academics and historians, all while becoming a target for lawmakers looking to restrict how history and racism are taught in public schools.

Gov. DeSantis told reporters last week the decision was made because it included the study of “queer theory” and political movements that advocated for “abolishing prisons.”

The course covers topics ranging from early African kingdoms to how Jim Crow laws impacted African Americans after Reconstruction, as well as the achievements of Black Americans in science, music and art.

The subjects are divided into four major units: origins of the african diaspora, freedom, enslavement and resistance, and practice of freedom.

More than 300 professors of African American studies, including faculty from dozens of HBCUs, were consulted during the development of the course framework, which was completed in December, the organization said.

The official framework only requires the analysis of core historical, literary, and artistic works and does not have a list of secondary sources that need to be included, according to the College Board.

The short version is that Florida demanded changes to the course. After first seeming to strip back the portions that Florida found objectionable, the College Board later hit back at Florida, accusing the state department of education of “slander” and documenting months when differences over the curriculum could have been addressed by Florida, but were not.

The state’s education department previously told CNN that it had concerns about some topics of study included in an 81-page document that appears to be a preview of the course framework. The document, dated February 2022, was shared with CNN last month by DeSantis spokesperson Bryan Griffin.

But critics point out that the newest iteration of the course is now missing several themes and voices from Black scholars that were originally presented in a pilot program already being taught at dozens of schools this year across the country. Others are saying that changes to the curriculum were made to appease Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after his administration rejected the original iteration of the course last month.

The reparations debate, “gay life and expression in Black communities,” and Black Lives Matter are only included in a list of examples of the topics that students can pick for research projects.

These topics are not required in order to take the exam and are not included in the framework of the course. This list is a partial one for illustrative purposes and can be refined by states and districts,” the College Board said in the framework.

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The politics surrounding how schools teach about race were stirred up after the rejection of the course by a potential Republican presidential candidate. Florida officials last month issued a chart that said it promoted the idea that modern American society oppresses Black people, was inappropriate, and uses articles by critics of capitalism.

The draft curriculum has gone through several revisions and the College Board is taking input from teachers in the pilot classes.

“To wake up on the first day of Black History Month to news of white men in positions of privilege horse trading essential and inextricably linked parts of Black History, which is American history, is infuriating,” said David Johns, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition. The lives, contributions and stories of black trans, queer, and non- conforming people are important and should not be erased.

The course has been popular among students in schools where it has been introduced. At Baton Rouge Magnet High School in Louisiana, so many students were interested that Emmitt Glynn is teaching it to two classes, instead of just the one he was originally planning.

Frantz Fanon’s novel “The Wretched of the Earth” deals with the violence that is inherent in colonial societies. The students talked about the fight between Native Americans and the colonizers as well as the police violence in Memphis, Tennessee, and the war in Ukraine.

“We’ve been covering the gamut from the shores of Africa to where we are now in the 1930s, and we will continue on through history,” Glynn said. The connections his students made between the past and now were something that he was proud to see.

For Malina Ouyang, 17, taking the class helped fill gaps in what she has been taught. “Taking this class,” she said, “I realized how much is not said in other classes.”

The College Board offers an impressive collection of courses, including math, science, social studies, foreign languages and fine arts. The courses are optional. Students who score high enough on the final exam to get course credit at their university are often taught at a college level.

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“We hope the College Board reconsiders their curriculum and education policies and stand firm in their belief that Black History is American History, and we urge our young people to do the same,” he said.

Malcolm Reed is a teacher at St. Amant High School in Louisiana and he tries to be aware of how material in his classroom affects his students.

“I give them the information and I’ve seen light bulbs go off. I ask them, ‘How does it affect you? How do you feel about learning this?’ ” he said. I’m taking it in stride since it’s new for me. We are making history even though we’re learning history.

Haynie said in a statement issued by the College Board that they reject any claims that their work either leaves students uneducated or is bowed to political pressure.

Though the nonprofit maintains it did not “purge” the curriculum of key lessons concerning “Black feminism” and “gay Black Americans,” it also acknowledged a reduction in the “breadth” of the new framework.

These revisions have removed works by scholars including Roderick Ferguson from the curriculum.

“This ‘culture war’ targeting intellectuals, artists, and academics has a long, distressing history,” Ferguson wrote in an op-ed in the Chronicle of Higher Education, connecting the Florida criticism to his removal before the revisions were made public.

The state’s rejection of the AP course led to criticism across the country from other state lawmakers and civil rights organizations. Three Florida high school students announced that they would file a lawsuit against the governor if the state did not change its mind. More than 200 African American history professors also signed an open letter denouncing the changes.

The College Board reserved some of its strongest language for Florida officials themselves, who it said made “audacious claims” about getting the College Board to change the course curriculum but in reality offered no concrete suggestions to the organization when given multiple chances during months of correspondence.

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The pilot program for the original version of the class was one of the reasons why he shared his enthusiasm with NPR. Williams-Clark would be teaching the class at a high school in Tallahassee, the capital of Florida.

“I let them know, point-blank, there may be some topics in which it is a thin line and that we’ll just have to be careful how we talk about some things and how we approach some subjects,” he told NPR. I can not lead any conversations.

The College Board now says it should have come out more strongly against the criticisms by Florida officials sooner and that its “failure to raise our voice betrayed Black scholars everywhere and those who have long toiled to build this remarkable field.”

The College Board, a national education nonprofit, said it should have responded more quickly to Florida’s Department of Education claims about the course being indoctrinating students and lacking educational value.

“Florida is attempting to claim a political victory by taking credit retroactively for changes we ourselves made but that they never suggested to us,” the College Board said in a statement.

A number of laws have been signed by the governor to restrict what is taught in Florida schools. One such law – officially called the “Parental Rights in Education” law but dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by critics – bans classroom discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity under certain circumstances. Another law, known as the Stop W.O.K.E. Act, limits how issues of race can be taught.

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The organization said that it had made the mistake of treating FDOE with the courtesy they always accord to an education agency but that they had instead exploited this for their political agenda. “After each written or verbal exchange with them, as a matter of professional protocol, we politely thanked them for their feedback and contributions, although they had given none.”

The College Board has filled the vacuum because of it’s business processes that make it generate more of its monopoly status.

Read the details on that public spat from CNN’s Tina Burnside and Gregory Clary. And learn more about the controversial proposed AP African American studies course curriculum from CNN’s Nicole Chavez.

Who were the people who elected them? Are there other people that provide services? Turns out there are,” he said, suggesting the International Baccalaureate as an example of an alternative.

Data from the College Board show that a third of US public high school graduates take at least one AP class. In Florida, students in public high schools took the AP test according to College Board data.

Florida was intended on being at the forefront of fighting Covid-19 restrictions and trying to force school districts to stay open. There were no exceptions to waive the SAT or ACT, even though students were struggling to get access to tests.

Now, moving on to purge diversity efforts, he has demanded the names of staff and programs involved with diversity at public colleges and universities. And he’s led the charge to crack down on what school districts can teach on the issues of race and gender.

Moving away from tests is suggested by the American Civil Liberties Union as a salve for the Supreme Court outlawing consideration of race in admissions programs.

These are obviously separate issues – Florida’s dislike of the AP African American studies curriculum and the separate criticism of standardized tests as barriers to inclusion.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/15/politics/ron-desantis-college-board-what-matters/index.html

The College Board as a business? Jon Boeckenstedt, an educator and former Oregon State University assistant vice provost, discusses his experiences with the College Board

But they both feed into the large role the College Board – which advertises itself as a nonprofit but in some years generates more than $1 billion in revenue and pays top executives seven-figure salaries – plays in American education.

The College Board can often be accused of being secretive, but it does explain that its representatives from its 6,000-plus member organizations are responsible for appointing delegates for its three national assembly.

Jon Boeckenstedt is the vice provost for enrollment management at Oregon State University. He learned that the College Board is much like a business when he sat on advisory boards more than a decade ago.

“The good thing is that states and even local entities are allowed to sort of mold and create the curriculum that is most relevant to their citizens and their population,” Boeckenstedt said.

He explained that it made it difficult for us to figure out whether students are learning the things we think they should be learning or if they’re just learning at a slower rate.

The College Board has power that states should take back. He wants to see states and universities share prospective college students information, rather than allowing the College Board to distribute it to schools and make money with it.

According to Boeckenstedt, teachers are so focused on preparing students for the exams that they feel like they are away from the curriculum.

John Moscatiello, founder of the AP test prep company Marco Learning, told me a lot of teachers are frustrated by aspects of the AP program, but also respect it for the breadth of input and knowledge that are put into the course outlines.

He stated that the College Board responded to criticisms by restoring years of History to its classes and adding a math course to address the problem of students not being prepared for college level math.