On August 3rd, College Board released a statement announcing that AP Psychology was “effectively banned” in the state of Florida after deciding its content contradicted Florida’s new education laws. This caused confusion among multiple school districts in the state and eliminated the course from many schools. Even though the course can now be taught in its entirety, this clarification came a little too late. 

The College Board statement reads, “the AP course asks students to ‘describe how sex and gender influence socialization and other aspects of development.’ This element of the framework is not new: gender and sexual orientation have been part of AP Psychology since the course launched 30 years ago.”

AP Psychology has been offered in the United States since 1992, giving many students the opportunity to receive a college credit in psychology. In those past 31 years, there have been no bans or interference on the curriculum or the course itself-until now. 

This idea of “sex and gender influence” goes against Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, and the College Board has made it clear that they will not modify the course in its statement on the course in Florida. On August 4th, the Florida State Commissioner of Education, Manny Diaz, released a statement to all superintendents in the state, saying the course could still be taught in a manner that is “age and developmentally appropriate.”

Jackson-Reed AP Psychology teacher, Margaret Pierce, said the developments were unfortunate, but not surprising. “I think what Florida was trying to do was just not have that conversation, and it’s not shocking.” 

Pierce, who started teaching the course at JR last year, emphasized that the topics of gender and sexuality, while important, don’t have a lengthy presence in the course. “It wouldn’t be even a whole part of a class period,” Pierce says.

This isn’t the first AP course that has become illegal in Florida, with the AP African American studies pilot class banned in the state starting January of this year. Both these decisions came straight from Florida’s Department of Education, who have been persistent in having discussions of race theory, sexuality, and gender identity removed from school curriculum. “People deserve the right to information,” Pierce says. “I don’t think that education departments should restrict what information people are able to have.”