Overview
- Florida’s education department released a new U.S. history framework under Florida Advanced Courses and Tests, with a classroom pilot planned for the fall.
- The course serves as a state alternative to AP U.S. History and grants high school credit, with college credit available only if students pass a state exam and later enroll in a Florida public college or university.
- The framework recommends Wilfred McClay’s Land of Hope as its textbook, and the outline highlights English constitutional roots, Western traditions, and Protestant thought.
- State officials describe the course as thorough and non-ideological, while historians and other critics say it advances a patriotic reading that soft-pedals systemic racism and simplifies the founders’ positions on slavery.
- The launch follows May 1 laws that tighten requirements for public-sector unions and extend AP-level bonuses to teachers of FACT courses, and the College Board responded by defending AP U.S. History as rigorous and source-driven.