When state School Superintendent Richard Woods announced a decision this week not to fund an Advanced Placement African American Studies course, it set off criticism and confusion on all fronts, from students and school districts to the governor and legislators.
On Wednesday, questions about Woods’ decision came from a fellow Republican, Gov. Brian Kemp, who sent him a letter with several questions about the course, which was piloted in 33 Georgia schools during the last school year. Kemp asked whether Woods’ department reviewed the course’s curriculum before launching the pilot and, if so, why his opinion has changed since.
The same day, Georgia Democratic lawmakers held a press conference to denounce Woods’ decision. The crowd included members of the Georgia House and Senate, teachers, students, school board members and representatives of advocacy groups like the NAACP.
AP courses often boost a student’s grade-point average; if they score well enough on the exam, they can earn college credit.
“Explain to me why this course is being singled out and is no longer eligible for state funds,” said Sen. Nikki Merritt, D-Grayson, who organized the news conference. “Black history is American history. It is essential to our educational system because it reflects truth.”
In a statement Wednesday, following up on his earlier announcement, Woods said school districts could still teach a state-funded African American Studies elective course adopted in 2020. He said those students could take the AP exam to earn college credit. He added that districts could teach some or all of the standards for the AP course. However, that response didn’t sit well with the group gathered inside the state Capitol’s South Rotunda Wednesday.
“Absolutely not,” said Rep. Jasmine Clark, D-Lilburn. “We’re not doing that for any other AP course. Why are we singling out AP African American Studies? Stop targeting us. Stop singling us out. We deserve to have the same type of funding mechanism that every other AP course has and to do that, to even suggest ... that our course is somehow less than. That’s not OK.”
Communication about the change has caused confusion.
Meghan Frick, the spokeswoman for the state Department of Education, said Wednesday in a series of text messages that the state will still fund an AP-level course. School districts will just have to code it as the African American Studies elective course, a less rigorous introductory class.
The College Board said in a statement that it was disappointed that Georgia’s Department of Education had decided not to issue an AP-level course code for the class because “educators won’t receive the full benefits provided by the state as with other AP courses.” Even so, the organization said it would authorize any AP-level course at the district level that met its standards. ”Schools could mark those courses as Advanced Placement on student transcripts that can be sent to colleges and universities,” the College Board statement said.
There’s also been much back-and-forth this week about what Woods’ decision means for students and school districts.
Rashad Brown, a teacher at Atlanta’s Maynard Jackson High School who has piloted the course for two years, said Woods’ proposal could work against students trying to earn credit for rigorous coursework.
“They won’t be receiving AP credit, which will boost their GPA, so that will make them automatically less competitive,” he said. “Sure, they would be able to take the test and receive college credit, but their GPA would not receive that boost for taking an AP course.”
However, Frick said it’s up to districts whether to offer an AP level of quality: ”Grading, quality points, and weighted GPAs are all determined at the local level and within the local district’s authority.”
Funding is another question.
Brown said he’s grateful Atlanta Public Schools decided to use local dollars to keep paying for the course. He will teach three sections of the course this fall, and if the district hadn’t funded the class, it would have wiped out half of his course load.
“I’m very thankful to ... everybody who’s involved in the decision-making process ... that they value this course, value our young scholars, and found it worthy to give them a fair and equitable education,” he said.
DeKalb County announced Wednesday it will also use local money to fund the class. Gwinnett County announced this week it would not offer the class as originally planned since the state would not recognize the course. It’s exploring options for including the course in the district’s curriculum. Cobb County said it has planned a “proof of concept” at Wheeler High School, and those students will be able to take the AP exam.
This week’s chain of events started with a letter Monday to families from the Gwinnett school district.
Frick said there’d been miscommunication with Gwinnett. The state’s largest district had announced earlier this week that it was discontinuing the AP classes. ”I am not sure where the breakdown was but we’ve been in touch with them today (Wednesday) to try and clarify,” Frick wrote.
The state Department of Education had issued a seemingly contradictory message Monday night, when Frick responded to Gwinnett’s assertion by saying “local districts may still offer the AP course with local funding,” carrying the cost of the teacher’s salary and benefits, and of the course supplies, without state funding.
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Stuck in the middle of the confusion are metro Atlanta students.
Nate Whipple, who will be a senior at Lassiter High School in Cobb, had planned to take the AP African American Studies class this year and is disappointed he won’t be able to now.
“We have over 20 AP classes in the state ... like AP European History, AP World History, AP Japanese History,” he said. “Why is AP African American Studies not allotted by the state?”
Whipple said education officials who are concerned with cracking down on “anti-woke” teaching practices are actually interfering with students’ rights to learn. He said his message to Woods and other elected officials is simple.
“Take a look at who really wants classes like these to be offered,” he said. “It’s not political operatives. It’s not Democrats. It’s not lobbyists. It’s students.”
Tracey Nance, a former teacher, traces the evolution of this issue to June 2021, when the state Board of Education adopted a resolution in reaction to a call by Kemp to “ensure that critical race theory and its dangerous ideology do not take root in our state standards and curriculum.”
Nance, whose surname was Pendley back then, had a seat at the table at that board meeting due to her position as Georgia Teacher of the Year. She vehemently opposed the resolution, which sought guardrails on the teaching of race and set the stage for the subsequent passage of a law against teaching what it defined as “divisive concepts.”
(The nine concepts involve generalizations, like saying one race is inherently superior, moral character is racially determined or America is fundamentally racist.)
Nance said Wednesday that Woods, elected a decade ago, told her in May that the politics of his office were wearing him down.
”He said he was tired of the politics, and that has made his job especially difficult,” she said. “And I can see that, but we just want him to stand up and say, ‘No, this isn’t right.’”
