AP African American studies course coming to State College. ‘Potential here for discovery’

The Advanced Placement African American Studies class has led to controversy across the country, but when State College Area High School implements the course next year, it will expand on a class that has been offered at the school for more than a decade.

The semester-long African American studies class, which has been offered for the past 12 years at State High, will be replaced next year by its yearlong AP counterpart. AP courses are college-level classes offered by the College Board where students can take a comprehensive end of year test to earn college credit. The State College Area Board of Directors unanimously voted last month to approve the course for the 2024-25 school year.

“There’s a lot of potential here for discovery, which I think is really important,” board member Peter Buck said during an Oct. 2 discussion on offering the course. “Especially perhaps for students whose ancestry may be from enslaved people, the potential for family discovery is really there.”

Discussion around offering the AP course at State High began in 2021 when the College Board announced it would be developing it and planning for the pilot program, secondary director of curriculum Christine Merritt said. There was discussion then about adding the course immediately or waiting until the College Board settled on the scope of the curriculum and assessments, she said.

“And so we had a conversation about that and what our capacity was at the time,” Merritt said. “We really felt like waiting was a better choice, because we already had an African American studies course on as an offering.”

According to the College Board, 17 schools in Pennsylvania are offering the course this year. Data has not been collected on how many schools in the state plan to offer it next year alongside State College, which is the only Centre County school to include it in its offerings.

State College’s current course is a semester long and taught by Jon Lodge. Starting with the transatlantic slave trade up to the present day, the class provides an in-depth look at slavery, reconstruction, the Jim Crow era and civil rights, but is limited by its four months of instruction.

Long before the College Board’s announcement, there have been calls from State High students for the district to expand the scope of the current African American history curriculum.

“Before the students even were aware of this, they vocalized the need for more and that they wanted a full-year course,” said Jessica James, the district’s social studies coordinator. “So I think it’s interesting that they didn’t have all those pieces and that they were already communicating that they wanted more depth, they wanted it to be a year long.”

Why is the AP course controversial?

Since its pilot introduction in 2022, the College Board’s Advanced Placement African American Studies course has drawn pushback from some conservative politicians. In January, just days before the sign-up deadline for the second pilot year, Florida’s Department of Education announced that it would ban the course, prompting the College Board to remove some content in an attempt to appease Florida officials.

After heavy backlash, the College Board revised the course again in April, reincorporating some of the original content.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration denounced the curriculum as progressive “indoctrination.” In August, Arkansas joined Florida as the second state to drop the course.

Despite its time in the national spotlight, Merritt said the AP course is not about politics but rather an interdisciplinary look at a large part of American history and culture.

“This course is not a political one, and we don’t want to politicize it,” Merritt said. “So it’s not about whether you believe this or that, it’s more about just understanding history. It’s not about making political judgments and all of that.”

Benefits of AP

The framework for the AP course starts much earlier than the current African American studies class offered at State High, giving students a look into life before the transatlantic slave trade and its later influence on African American culture. The course units include cultural contributions, diversity within the African American community and the contributions of women within the civil rights movement.

Unlike traditional AP courses, the new African American Studies class is heavily project-based, with students submitting a project on a topic of their choosing as part of the end-of-year AP assessment. Merritt said the project component was one of the major benefits when determining to offer the course, giving students freedom in choosing their project topic.

“It’s a student-driven project on any topic that comes up in class, anything, any sentence that appears in the framework, they can do a project on,” Merritt said. “But it’s not about whether someone agrees or disagrees. It’s about exploring the topic, and how well you’ve explored the topic in depth.”

Before course approval, some board members expressed concerns that the AP test and yearlong enrollment would deter students from taking the class. AP enrollment has been a focus for the district, with Black students in the district showing the lowest enrollment, according to the district’s June 2023 equity report. However, Merritt stressed that the class is offered to provide all students with the opportunity to take a college-level course on the history and experience of African Americans.

“It fits in with our mission and vision of including all students,” she said. “And again, this isn’t only a class for Black students. It’s a course for all students to learn and they’re learning parts of world history and American history and all kinds of topics but it’s reinforced with a different lens in this particular class.”

Current class at State High

Although the transition to AP is a year away, students at State High are already learning about African American history in an in-depth way. During the class, students learn about civil rights leaders, legislation and the effects of nationalism.

During a recent session, students engaged in a roundtable debate about the methods and motivations behind civil rights leaders.

“Students will be introduced to various thematic topics that focus on a non-traditional approach covering the journey of a slave from capture, to servitude, to emancipation, to struggles for understanding the complex meaning of freedom,” the current syllabus reads on the high school’s website. “The course will also look at present-day issues, including controversial subjects that African Americans face as a legacy of slavery.”

Senior Justin Castro-Dixon, who took the class in 2022, said it helped him reach a deeper understanding of his community and history.

“It just reinforces the hardships of where my people came from,” Castro-Dixon said. “And that’s a really big one for me, because I wouldn’t say I take it for granted, but I’m not reminded daily about all the things that we’ve gone through and it’s really impactful.”

It’s one of several classes focusing on social issues that are available to State High students, including “Issues of Modern Society: Controversy and Conversation” and “Diversity and Social Justice.”

“I think there’s a lot of history to be told,” Merritt said. “I think we could develop a lot more history courses and as we look to see what AP offers, there may be other ones coming out.”

Castro-Dixon said he wishes the AP course had been an option earlier. He recommended the current course to many of his friends, some who are in the class now.

“I’m really excited about that because you can only squeeze so much history into one quarter,” Castro-Dixon said. “So I’m really excited for that. I wish I could take it.”

In September, the board approved a motion to cover the cost of one AP testing fee for first-time test takers in the district. Tests typically cost anywhere from $98 to $146 for students, making it an additional barrier to testing. Students on free or reduced lunch are eligible for a fee waiver for up to four exams.