After days of confusion, the Florida education commissioner said in a letter sent late Wednesday that high schools may teach Advanced Placement Psychology without running afoul of Florida law — including material on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Last week, Commissioner Manny Díaz Jr. told districts that the class could be offered, but only if material on those topics was excluded, according to district officials on a call with him. Large school districts across Florida responded by dropping the course and began a stressful process of quickly preparing instructors to teach new curriculum.
Seven of the 11 districts with the largest enrollments in the class said this week that they would switch to alternate courses. The other four said they would stick with AP Psychology despite the apparent risks.
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Díaz’s new letter arrived just hours before school begins across much of the state. In it he said that he thought he had been clear before, but now wanted “to make sure there is no room for misinterpretation.” He then wrote that the unit of AP Psychology in question “can be taught consistent with Florida law.”
It was unclear why the education chief changed his mind or, if he didn’t, why he waited so long to make an unambiguous statement.
In a statement issued before the new letter arrived, Brevard County Schools said the school district was in a no-win situation, because certain content “violates state law” but the College Board made clear that any course that removed the material in question would not be certified as AP.
“In essence, if we don’t teach all of the content, our students will not receive AP credit. If we do teach all of the content, our instructors will violate the law. Therefore, we will not offer AP Psychology at any of our high schools this year,” the district said.
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Kurt Browning, superintendent of Pasco County schools, said he felt he had “no other option” but to change to an alternate college-level psychology course, even though with classes beginning Thursday, teachers had only days to prepare. He said he feared they could lose their teaching licenses otherwise.
Speaking before the new letter arrived, he said he explicitly asked Díaz whether teachers would be punished if they taught the entire course and “never got a straight answer.”
“Education in Florida has just gotten very politicized,” he said. “Teachers teach in fear. They’re scared. It’s no way to educate kids.”
A spokeswoman for Pasco County schools said late Wednesday that district officials would review the new letter on Thursday. It was unclear whether other districts would change course.
The popular AP Psychology class has been taught by Florida high schools for 30 years, with thousands of students in 562 schools set to take part this fall.
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The conflict stems from Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed by opponents as the “don’t say gay” bill, which outlaws classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. In April, the state Education Department expanded the prohibition to include all grades.
The AP Psychology course asks students to “describe how sex and gender influence socialization and other aspects of development.” The College Board said this element of the class had been present since the course was launched in 1993.
Share this articleShareIt’s just one in a string of curriculum and book battles raging across Florida as the state under Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) seeks to limit student exposure to certain lessons around race and gender.
This year, state officials rejected a pilot version of AP African American Studies, declaring that it “lacks educational value.” Last month, the governor — and GOP presidential contender — drew fire after Florida curriculum standards directed that students learn that enslaved people “developed skills” that “could be applied for their personal benefit.”
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Last spring, nearly 28,000 Florida students took the AP Psychology exam, an opportunity given to students who have taken the course to earn college credit. More than 60 percent of them came from 11 large school districts.
Washington Post queries to those 11 districts found that seven of them had plans to remove AP Psychology from their high schools. Districts in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties said they would shift to a college-level psychology course offered by Cambridge International’s Advanced International Certificate of Education program. Seminole County will move students to an AP Seminar course, which will emphasize the study of psychology. Duval, Orange and Brevard counties said they would replace AP Psychology with an alternative, such as the Cambridge course or the AP Seminar.
Officials at Cambridge International previously said their psychology course already allows schools and districts to choose topics within a larger framework.
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Four of the 11 districts said they would stick with plans to offer AP Psychology.
Palm Beach County initially said the AP class would be removed but on Wednesday reversed course. Superintendent Michael J. Burke said in a statement that concerns “had been mitigated” after talking with state and College Board officials. He added that the course “will be taught in its entirety in an ‘age and developmentally appropriate’ manner.”
Miami-Dade County Public Schools said Wednesday that the class would be offered and “all learning targets” will be addressed. Broward County said that the class would be allowed, but parents would be required to sign a form opting their children in, a process not used for any other course.
St. Johns County Superintendent Tim Forson wrote to school leaders on Friday encouraging them to offer the class and said the administration would work with teachers “to ensure all standards are taught within the law.”
Forson said he had been encouraged by a message Friday from Díaz, but the same message only confused others.
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In a letter to superintendents last Friday, Díaz wrote that “the Department believes that AP Psychology can be taught in its entirety in a manner that is age and developmentally appropriate.” He suggested it was the College Board that would be responsible if the course were unavailable.
The College Board read that as permission to offer the class. But others in Florida were not persuaded that the state had backtracked, given that the state has said teaching about gender and sexual orientation is inappropriate. The Florida Education Association, which represents teachers, wrote Díaz asking him to state “clearly and unambiguously” that nothing in the course violates state law or rules. The Florida PTA also asked the department to clarify its view.
Since Friday, a spokeswoman for the state Education Department has not replied to emails or calls seeking clarification.
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