Thread by @JonBoeckenstedt

Thread: There are some people who apparently find The College Board explanation of AP African-American Studies plausible: That the framework was revised in December, and thus wasn't influenced by Florida or Ron DeSantis.

That's your right, of course.

But here, to me, is the more plausible explanation.

That sometime--probably soon after AP AAS was announced, people in Florida got wind of the framework. And whether it was genuine, good-old fashioned racism, or political opportunism, the wheels started spinning.

It's more plausible that back channel communications started between Florida and College Board very early.

Florida has been cozy with CB since No Child Left Behind and Jeb! Bush as governor. And they are the third (give or take) biggest CB customer.

So when Florida speaks, College Board listens. CB is a business, and it operates like any other business. "Not-for-profit" does not mean it's a charity. It's a not-for-profit BUSINESS.

Florida loves AP and the SAT. The public unis there kept the SAT requirement during COVID.

Both sides had something to gain in this.

I'm guessing what College Board didn't bank on was that after they caved to DeSantis, he'd go public and make it an issue. Why would DeSantis do this?

He's a politician. He's running for president. He's trying to capture Trump's base.

And you can imagine the element that gets Trump's base fired up. Here's a good summary of how DeSantis operates, courtesy of @RonFilipkowski

So guess what? College Board can provide "time stamped documents" showing the final decisions had been made in December. They're accurate, probably.

What they can't or won't provide is the evidence of communication from Florida that kicked off the review in the first place.

That likely came months ahead of time.

The big winner (to borrow a line from @DougJBalloon): Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

He waited until he knew this was being announced at the start of Black History Month to drop a stink bomb in the room.

It serves his political purpose well: Speaks in code to racists, and makes him look tough. You know who else did that, right?

The guy who still owns a large part of the base.

And the big loser: College Board.

Again. When will all the losing stop? They can't even win with their chief competitor, ACT, having garage sales every other week to keep them afloat.

Our colleagues who are Trustees of College Board should hear from you if you're tired of all the losing.

Remember, CB is a membership organization.

LOL.

(I believed that until I got put on an advisory board.)

In 2020 I wrote that maybe COVID would be the end of the SAT. It's too soon to tell, but perhaps AP African-American Studies will be the end of the College Board.

chronicle.com/article/will-t…

As Agnes Boeckenstedt would say...

Oh, and #EMTalk