FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — After the Arkansas Department of Education announced that it would no longer be offering or recognizing credit for an Advance Placement (AP) class on African American studies, the University of Arkansas (U of A) said in a statement that it would be accepting the course credit.
The Arkansas Department of Education stated their decision on Aug. 11, the weekend before many schools in the state began their school year. The course was first offered for the 2022-2023 school year as a pilot at 60 schools across the country, including some in Arkansas.
The Department of Education's decided to no longer offer the course because it is not in its final state and it “may unintentionally put a teacher at risk of violating Arkansas law,” according to Kimberly Mundell, Director of Communications for the department.
Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed an executive order in Jan. 2023 when she first came into office that banned critical race theory from being taught in schools.
In light of the department's decision, U of A released the following statement about their policies regarding the course:
The University of Arkansas plans to accept AP African American Studies course credit for students passing the AP exam with a 3 or higher as we do with the other AP program courses listed in our undergraduate catalog of studies.
We're still working to understand the details and potential impacts of the decision.
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