(NewsNation) — A new Advanced Placement African American Studies course will launch at 60 high schools this fall as part of a pilot program.
The course was made available through the College Board, which oversees college-level classes in high schools, according to The Hill. More schools could offer the AP course in the spring and College Board officials said it could be available to all interested high schools nationwide starting in 2024.
There’s a chance that you haven’t heard about this story. Most of the news outlets — 67% — who reported on the topic were left-leaning, according to NewsNation partner Ground News’ Blindspot report. The remaining 33% were outlets aligned in the center of the political spectrum. No right-wing outlets reported on the topic, according to the Blindspot report.
The College Board has said it will post a course framework on the AP Program website, according to The Hill.
The course’s debut comes as Americans struggle to see eye-to-eye on the teaching of race and the nation’s history.
Fifteen states have passed about 19 education gag orders targeting classroom discussions of race and sex, according to the nonprofit Pen America.
In April, Florida authorities rejected 41% of submitted textbooks for the upcoming school year’s math teaching materials. The state’s education leaders found the textbooks were impermissible by state standards or because they contained what was seen as critical race theory (CRT) or other practices.
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund defines CRT as “an academic and legal framework that denotes that systemic racism is part of American society — from education and housing to employment and healthcare.”
Florida banned the theory from being taught in schools in June 2021.
Proponents of teaching about historical injustices have said K-12 schools do not teach critical race theory and worry that restrictions advanced by GOP legislatures could limit any topics related to racism and history from being accurately taught.
This story is part of NewsNation’s new “Blindspot” initiative in partnership with Ground News to provide readers with contextual, unbiased news they may not find covered by every media outlet.
