A new Advanced Placement Black history and humanities course is rolling out at high schools around the country this school year, and some local school districts in the Rochester area are among those offering the elective for high schoolers.
AP African American studies is one of the latest Advanced Placement courses that the nonprofit College Board has designed. This is the first school year the course is officially being offered in high schools around the U.S.
“It's a chance to explore subject matter that often isn't taught in this kind of depth in American high schools,” said Holly Stepp, a spokesperson with the College Board.
Starting in 2022, College Board piloted the course for two school years. In total, about 14,000 students at 662 schools in 33 states participated. Florida was among the states in the first year of the pilot, but no Florida school participated in the second year.
About 80 of those schools were in New York state, according to College Board data. Mercy High School and Edison Tech High school in Rochester both participated. At Mercy, nearly 20 students are enrolled in the course this school year, which roughly doubles the number from last year.
The process to develop the AP course and exam began several years ago, Stepp said. During the pilot, she had the chance to sit in on some lessons.
“Students are going to go deep in this class, and that's kind of cool,” Stepp said. “And honestly, I will say it's also better — this framework is probably better than the introductory African American studies course I took in college 30 years ago.”
Stepp said some of the feedback that the College Board has received from students who have taken the course reflects that as well.
“What we frequently heard from students is, ‘I don't understand why this wasn't taught to me before,’” she said. “And so, I think students are very discerning and thoughtful, and perhaps in a different way than, you know, back in the 80s for this Gen Xer.”
However, during that same time as pilot programming was underway and the course was still being developed, there erupted a firestorm of backlash and criticism about the course.
“It's unfortunate, because we're proud of this course, and we believe in it, and we heard great things from teachers and students who participated in the pilot,” she said. “None of what we do is immune from the larger kind of societal debates.”
Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s Department of Education claimed the class was driven by a political agenda and was a form of indoctrination.
“The thing to remember about AP is that students ... don't earn points for taking one point of view or another,” Stepp said. “They're introduced to different ideologies, but there's no expectation that students are going to adopt any of them. AP is built on evidence and rigor, and we think there's a value in students challenging themselves that way."
In the end, the debates did not shut down College Board’s work to finalize the framework for the course, nor did they prevent the course’s official roll out this year.
This year, Penfield High School is joining the list of local schools offering the AP course. According to district officials, 15 students in grades 10 through 12 are enrolled in the class, which will last the full school year.
"When we often talk about African American history, it can be steeped in oppression,” said Sheena Conway, director of humanities at Penfield Central School District.
“But this course really gives students the opportunity to see resistance efforts, justice-oriented efforts, resilience, joy and how, in spite of such horrific circumstances, these were a people and a culture that were really able to prevail and build something exceptional and make significant contributions to our history.”
The course aligns with goals the district has set for meeting and exceeding state standards, Conway said.
"Identity, diversity, justice and action,” she said. “Those are the anchor standards of those social justice standards. And so, this course really beautifully aligns with that. We really want to have students become informed, compassionate, empathetic, global citizens. We also want students to feel valued."
Conway expressed those values in a presentation on culturally responsive education to the New York State Education Department in March of 2023. She was joined by current superintendent Tasha Potter in her former role as an administrator.
They used terms like "curriculum violence," referring to a 2020 article published in Southern Poverty Law Center’s online magazine, Learning for Justice.
The article’s author, Stephanie Jones, argues that curriculum violence can show up as omitting historical perspectives and experiences of marginalized people, and as using discriminatory language in lessons.
In the presentation to the state education department, Potter gave the example of using dehumanizing language in Black history lessons, including "offensive terms such as slave owner, master, fugitive, and replace those terms and use instead enslaved, enslaver, and freedom seeker,” Potter said.
By contrast, the AP African American studies course centers African and African American experiences and perspectives, and delves into African history that predates colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade.
Leslie Maloney, Penfield’s assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction said expanding students' education opportunities to include different worldviews can have wider-reaching effects.
“Being able to shift the narrative from Eurocentric history to more of incorporating other perspectives, anytime that we can do that, and students and their culture can be seen and valued and uplifted, I think that helps with the overall culture of a school,” Maloney said.
“And anytime that we can uplift and improve the culture of a school, then you know, the hope is that that lessens the amount of harm, bias-related incidents, et cetera.”
A partnership with SUNY Brockport was key to preparing the course for Penfield High School, Maloney said.
