Arkansas prohibits students from receiving completion credits for the AP African American Studies course
According to several reports, the Arkansas Department of Education prohibits high school students from earning AP African American Studies credit toward their degrees.
The newly offered course has drawn criticism from conservatives across the country as some Republicans, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a 2024 presidential candidate, are waging a culture war on “critical race theory” and the “wakeiness” unfolding in schools .
On her first day in office, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) enacted legislation that would “prohibit classes that would indoctrinate students with ideologies such as [critical race theory].”
As a result, the Department of Education referred to the AP African American Studies course as “indoctrination.”
“The department promotes the teaching of all American history and supports rigorous courses not based on opinion or indoctrination,” said Kimberly Mundell, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Education United States today At Tuesday.
As The Arkansas Times State officials reportedly called teachers directly by phone to notify them of the change and let them know they could continue teaching the course. However, students would have to pay the $98 fee themselves to take the AP final exam to earn credits, which the schools would have paid for. Nor do students get the increase in their GPAs that they would normally get with AP courses.
“We share their surprise, confusion and disappointment with this new policy that the course does not count towards completion credits [be] have the same weighting as other AP courses offered in the state,” the college board said Tuesday, according to USA Today.
The course is still a pilot program. Arkansas offered it in one school last year and should be offering it in six schools this school year.
The Little Rock School District — home of Central High School, an epicenter in the 1957 desegregation struggle — said it would continue to offer the course. The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
The Arkansas Department of Education and the College Board did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.