HIGHER EDUCATION

Conceding missteps, College Board pledges to revise Black studies course

Plans for a new Advanced Placement course in African American studies have been much criticized from the right and the left

By Nick Anderson
April 24, 2023 at 11:40 p.m. EDT

Conceding missteps, the College Board announced Monday that it will again revise its much-criticized plan for a new Advanced Placement course in African American studies. ... The statement gave no specifics on what might be changed, but it further cemented a widespread impression that the rollout of the course has been messy and scrambled by the volatile politics of race and education. The debate spilled into the spotlight when Florida officials said earlier this year they would reject the course as an example of what they called indoctrination.

“In embarking on this effort, access was our driving principle — both access to a discipline that has not been widely available to high school students, and access for as many of those students as possible,” the College Board said. “Regrettably, along the way those dual access goals have come into conflict.”

It pledged that revisions would ensure that, “regardless of how many students take this course, each one of those students should have access to the full breadth and beauty of this discipline.”

The first AP course to focus on African American studies has drawn intense scrutiny for much of the past year as it has been undergoing revisions and soft-launch tryouts in dozens of high schools around the country.

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By Nick Anderson
Nick Anderson covers higher education and other education topics for The Washington Post. He has been a writer and editor at The Post since 2005. Twitter https://twitter.com/wpnick