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The scandal over the Advanced Placement course in African American Studies highlights that the College Board has lost its way. On its website the College Board claims to be “a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity.” But as Annie Abrams writes for George Washington University’s History News Network, “As the scandal over AP African American Studies makes clear, neither students, teachers, nor professors can rely on the College Board to facilitate robust academic conversation about this or any other field.”
We are familiar with the back-and-forth between Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, and David Coleman, the College Board’s CEO. But there never should have been a debate at all. The minute that any elected official on the right or left threatened to ban any AP course for political reasons, Coleman should have condemned the threat unequivocally and emphatically, asserting the academic integrity of its consultation with recognized scholars in the field. This did not happen. Why? Even with its not-for-profit status, the College Board is a business, making nearly a half billion in revenue from the administration of AP tests.
Coleman, according to ProPublica, makes an annual salary of $2.5 million. The College Board wants students to pay for AP tests in all 50 states.
On Feb. 11, 2023—too late—the College Board issued an apology entitled, “Our commitment to AP African American Studies, the scholars and the field,” which says in part, “We deeply regret not immediately denouncing the Florida Department of Education’s slander, magnified by the DeSantis administration’s subsequent comments, that African American Studies ‘lacks educational value.’ Our failure to raise our voice betrayed Black scholars everywhere and those who have long toiled to build this remarkable field.”
Well, yes. But how about acknowledging the betrayal of core academic principles—the search for truth devoid of ideology from the right or left?
AP Tests Are No Longer the Arbiter of Excellence
Over the past few decades, testing has become the focus of the College Board. Students pay from $97 to $145 per AP exam. While some states offset the cost of the exams for low-income students, the money still goes to the College Board. Several states, Ohio and Texas, for example, have laws that require public colleges to recognize AP-exam scores for college credit, regardless of faculty assessment of the applicability of these credits to courses in the curriculum.
Full disclosure, a few years ago when I was president of Governors State University in Illinois and the convener of the state’s public university presidents, the College Board sent representatives directly to Illinois legislators to lobby for laws making it mandatory for universities to accept Advanced Placement credit. The lobbyists argued that Advanced Placement would save families money and speed time to graduation. The Illinois public university presidents managed to convince well-meaning legislators that the College Board had a profit motive and that university faculty members should retain some judgment on the value of the AP courses.
AP courses in a variety of subjects can contribute to students’ academic growth, but they may not always substitute for vibrant college classes. I’m all for AP availability, but I have reservations about the tests. The tests in AP English Language, AP English Literature, AP Art History, AP United States Government and others reward banal essays that cannot substitute for engaged classroom discussion. In the current issue of The Atlantic, Charlie Warzel reports that ChatGPT got a 5 on the AP Art History test.
It’s time for the academic community to pressure the College Board to return to upholding academic standards and independence. Until then I will be encouraging high school students to sign up for Advanced Placement courses, if they are the most challenging available, but to refrain from taking the AP tests.
