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- The College Board said AP Psychology is "effectively banned" in Florida by state laws.
- 7 of the 11 districts with the largest enrollments in Florida are now canceling the course.
- One Florida teacher told Insider she feels like she has to be careful about what she says for the first time in her 15-year career.
School districts across Florida are dropping AP Psychology after the College Board, a nonprofit that manages Advanced Placement coursework, said last week that new state laws that prohibit teaching about gender "effectively banned" the course material.
An AP Psychology teacher who works at a school in Broward County, which on Thursday announced it would allow the class but would require parents to opt in, told Insider that she feels like she has to be careful with what she says to her students for the first time in more than 15 years of teaching.
"I had a fifth grader who wasn't allowed to give a speech this year in debate because it was on a Shel Silverstein poem and it was a banned book in Florida," the teacher told Insider, referring to her own son. The teacher asked Insider not to use her name because she feared retribution from the state.
Seven of the 11 districts with the largest enrollments in Florida are switching to alternate courses, while four said they would keep teaching AP Psychology, according to The Washington Post. Broward County officials said they ultimately decided to allow parents to opt in or out of AP Psychology next year to ensure they are in line with the law.
"Recognizing the depth and breadth of topics covered in AP Psychology and in line with the importance of prioritizing students' well-being and parental choice, we decided to make enrollment for this elective course an 'opt-in' process that expressly requires parental consent," Superintendent Peter Licata said in a statement on Thursday.
While some school districts in Florida are switching from AP Psychology to another course that still offers college credit, the AP Psychology teacher told Insider that teachers switching to a different class will have just one week to "basically cram in whatever the new plan is."
"I think it kind of puts any kid in Florida at a disadvantage," the teacher told Insider.
The problem with AP Psychology in Florida
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the "Parental Rights In Education Act," also called the "Don't Say Gay" bill, into law last March. It prevents teachers from holding classroom discussions about sexual orientation or gender identity.
In June, the College Board said it would not modify the AP Psychology curriculum to be in line with the law after the Florida State Board of Education requested that the organization audit the material.
The nonprofit said in a statement that modifying the coursework would "break the fundamental promise of AP" and colleges would no longer broadly accept the work for credit.
According to the College Board, since it was first launched 30 years ago, a section of the AP Psychology course has asked students to "describe how sex and gender influence socialization and other aspects of development."
As a result, on August 3, it began advising schools not to teach the course if they wanted to stay within the law.
"We advise Florida districts not to offer AP Psychology until Florida reverses their decision and allows parents and students to choose to take the full course," the organization said in a statement on August 3.
A day later the Florida teacher's union accused DeSantis of using an "extremist agenda" to censor the AP Psychology course.
"How can we possibly take this away from kids?" the AP Psychology teacher in Broward asked. "It's more than talking about gender, although that's obviously an important place for kids as well, to be able to discuss that or learn stuff about that. But it's not just that," the teacher said.
The teacher said AP Psychology also helps students get mental health information they wouldn't have access to otherwise.
"Politicians are constantly making decisions on material that we teach and telling us the kids aren't ready to hear it," she added. "I don't know if I can get into that because I feel like I'm getting in trouble."
"Gosh, I've never had to think about that before," the teacher said.